{"id":41474,"date":"2021-03-24T18:18:35","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T22:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/?p=41474"},"modified":"2023-03-17T15:40:04","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T19:40:04","slug":"everything-you-need-to-know-about-fine-detail-plastic-material","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/everything-you-need-to-know-about-fine-detail-plastic-material","title":{"rendered":"Everything You Need To Know About Fine Detail Plastic Material"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Complex, personalized designs are a big draw for turning to 3D printing for creating scale models, miniature sets, and other uniquely detailed products. Selecting the right material<\/a> for a part or product is key to ensuring these detailed models take shape exactly as planned. So when would Fine Detail Plastic material be a good fit for your models? Let\u2019s dive into this exciting material choice!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fine Detail Plastic<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Starting at the start: Fine Detail Plastic<\/a> is an acrylic 3D printing material used in Material Jetting processes. It is also known as Frosted Detail Plastic or Resin-Based Acrylic Plastic. Formally called VisiJet M3 Crystal, Shapeways\u2019 Fine Detail Plastic is a translucent photopolymer material that is tougher than Sandstone but more brittle than Nylon 12 [Versatile Plastic]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scale models, miniatures, jewelry prototypes,\nand mold masters are some of the uses that might best benefit from using Fine\nDetail Plastic. Projects needing high detail and dimensional accuracy with a\nsmooth surface can be a good fit. These capabilities also make a great fit for\naesthetic models for educational, medical, and architectural applications. Thin\nwalls can also have some translucency, offering more depth and interest to the\nlook of a model. While the nature of the 3D printing process used can make the\nsurface somewhat uneven in color, most people opt to paint their models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fine Detail Plastic may not be the best option\nfor functional parts or parts that need to stand up to any kind of extreme\nconditions. It\u2019s a relatively brittle material, better suited for visually\ninteresting rather than kinetically intensive parts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Material Jetting Fine Detail\nPlastic<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The process used to 3D print Fine Detail\nPlastic is Material Jetting technology. Material Jetting is a relatively speedy\n3D printing process that brings together photosensitive (thermoset acrylic)\nmaterials with UV light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Material Jetting process uses a printhead\nto dispense droplets of material — think of standard inkjet 2D printing\nprocesses, and \u201cmaterial jetting\u201d makes sense. Ultraviolet light cures each\ndispensed layer to solidify the liquids into highly dimensionally accurate\ngeometries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diving a little deeper, the full process requires several steps. Molten plastic is deposited onto an aluminum build platform in layers using several nozzles, essentially using a large printhead that sweeps across the build layer. After each layer is deposited, it is cured, or polymerized, by a wide-area UV lamp. The next layer is then applied and cured, and through this repeated process layers of thermoplastic build up into a model. When the 3D printing is finished, the models go from the build tray into an oven that melts away the wax support material. Next, the models get a bath in an industrial dishwasher to remove any remaining wax residues before they go inside a drying cabinet. After they dry, the Shapeways team inspects and ships the models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certain technologies — like PolyJet — also enable multi-material 3D printing. This is where Shapeways\u2019 Multi-Color Polyjet<\/a> capabilities come into play; on the Stratasys J750 printer, more than half a million color combinations are possible to make durable, realistic visual prototypes, medical models, and displays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another full-color material, High Definition Full Color<\/a>, is a good choice for customers tapping into colored details for even the tiniest features in visual models. Similar to Fine Detail Plastic, this material uses the UV curing inkjet process where UV ink (CMYK, White) is cured layer by layer to produce printed models that can have more than 10 million different colors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For single-material 3D printing, though,\nShapeways uses 3D Systems ProJet MJP 3D printers with the Fine Detail Plastic.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"miniature<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Material Jetting Benefits<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The primary benefits of Material Jetting\ninclude:<\/p>\n\n\n\n