Experimental research of drop‐on‐demand droplet jetting 3D printing with molten polymer

Three‐dimensional (3D) printing technology has become an effective method for parts manufacturing and got a certain application in many fields. Now, drop‐on‐demand droplet jetting 3D printing appears as a new method of manufacturing technology which has a proven research progress for metal, colloid, and liquid resin materials. However, there are hardly any researches of droplet jetting 3D printing with molten polymer. So, considering molten polymer as the jetting material with droplet jetting method is an explorative direction. In order to attain the molten polymer droplets and achieve droplet jetting 3D printing with molten polymer, the 3D printing technology of differential melt (3DPDM) is developed independently. According to 3DPDM, a complete set of drop‐on‐demand droplet jetting 3D printer have been developed. In this work, PP (6820) was chosen as the experimental material. Under the different print parameters such as the rotation speed of screw, nozzle diameter, mechanical impact frequency, heating temperature, the space between nozzle and platform, the form, and deposition of droplets were studied. Furthermore, the optimal print parameters were summarized. By printing models with the optimal print parameters, it turned out that the 3DPDM is able to achieve drop‐on‐demand droplet jetting 3D printing with molten polymer. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018 , 135, 45933.