Following a heat treatment, unbound powder is removed, leaving the fabricated part. The sequence of operations is depicted below. The 3DP TM process combines powders and binders with unprecedented geometric flexibility. 3D Printing can form any material that can be obtained as a powder - which is just about any material. Further, because different materials can be dispensed by different print heads, 3D Printing can exercise control over local material composition.
Material can be in a liquid carrier, or it can be applied as molten matter.
The proper placement of droplets can be used to create surfaces of controlled texture and to control the internal microstructure of the printed part. The 3DP TM process surpasses conventional powder processing because while the 3DP TM components rival the performance of those made by conventional methods, there are no tooling or geometric limitations with Three Dimensional Printing. Because of its great flexibility in handling a wide range of materials and because of the unique ability to locally tailor the material composition, Three Dimensional Printing offers potential for the direct manufacture of structural components with unique microstructures and capabilities. Three Dimensional Printing is also readily scaled in production rate through the use of multiple nozzle technology which has been commercially developed for printing images on paper. It was the first technology to achieve the fabrication of ceramic parts, and pioneered the direct fabrication of ceramic molds for casting.