Materia Jetting

Material jetting - MJ, NPJ, DOD

The Material Jetting 3D printing manufacturing technique is often compared to the standard
2D ink jetting process. Utilizing photopolymers, metals, or wax that solidify when exposed to
light or heat (in a similar fashion to stereolithography) ensures that physical objects are built
up one layer at a time. The material jetting manufacturing process allows for different
materials to be 3D printed within the same part.

Material jetting dispenses a photopolymer from hundreds of tiny nozzles in a printhead to

build a part layer-by-layer. This allows material jetting operations to deposit build-material in a
rapid, line-wise fashion, which can be compared to other point-wise deposition technologies
that follow a path to complete the cross-sectional area of a layer, also called a slice. As the
droplets are deposited to the build platform they are directly cured and solidified using UV
light. Material jetting processes require support, which is often 3D printed simultaneously
during the build from a dissolvable material. The support material is then removed during the
post processing step.

Several techniques make up the material jetting term, the most popular being:

 Drop On Demand (DOD) DOD material jetting printers have two print jets: one
to deposit the build material and another for dissolvable support material. Like all
additive manufacturing machines, DOD 3D printers follow a pre-determined path
and deposit material in a point-wise fashion to build the cross sectional area of a
component. These machines also employ a fly-cutter that skims the build area
after each layer to ensure a perfectly flat surface before printing the next layer.
DOD technology is typically used to produce wax-like patterns for lost-wax
casting/investment casting and mold making applications, making it an indirect
3D printing technique.

 PolyJet by Objet PolyJet 3D printing technology was first patented by the Objet

company, now a Stratasys brand. The photopolymer materials are jetted in ultra-
thin layers onto a build tray in a similar fashion compared to inkjet document
 printing. Each photopolymer layer is cured by UV light immediately after being
jetted. The repetition of jetting and curing steps, layer after layer produces fully
cured models that can be handled and used immediately. The gel-like support
material, which is specially designed to support complex geometries, can easily
be removed by hand or by using water jetting.

 NanoParticle Jetting (NPJ) by XJet. This material jetting technology, patented

by XJet, uses a liquid, which contains building nanoparticles or support
nanoparticles, that is loaded into the printer as a cartridge and jetted onto the
build tray in extremely thin layers of droplets. High temperatures inside the build
envelope cause the liquid to evaporate leaving behind parts made from the
building material. This technique is suitable for metals and ceramics.

Material jetting 3D printing technology is a great choice for realistic prototypes, providing an
excellent level of details, high accuracy and smooth surface finish. Material jetting allows a
designer to print a design in multiple colors and with a number of materials in a single print.
To designate a different material or color to particular areas of the part, the model must be
exported as separate STL files. When blending colors or material properties to create a digital
material, the design must be exported as an OBJ or VRML file, because these formats allow
the designation of special properties (such as texture or full color) on a per-face or per-vertex
basis.

The main drawbacks to printing with material jetting technologies are the high cost and the
fact that UV activated photopolymers lose mechanical properties over time and can become
brittle.