Sulzer Management Ag

Stephen Shields

Claudio Walker

Daniele Tammaro

Ulla Trommsdorff

A three-dimensional printing system for preparing a three-dimensional object made at least partially of an expanded polymer includes a printing device configured to prepare an expandable polymer melt and deposit a strand of expandable, expanding or expanded polymer onto a surface and a three-dimensional movement device for to enable depositing of the strand of expandable, expanding or expanded polymer at a predetermined time at a precise position within the three-dimensional matrix. The printing device includes a feed section at an upstream end of the printing device, a heating section, a pressurizing section, a blowing agent supply line, a mixing section, a cooling section and a terminal printing head section at a downstream end of the printing device including a die configured to deposit the strand of the expandable, expanding or expanded polymer onto the surface.

3D printing system for preparing a three-dimensional object

A three-dimensional (3D) printing system for preparing an object made at least partially of an expanded polymer including: a printing device for transporting and depositing a strand of expanded polymer including a blowing agent onto a surface and a 3D movement device for adjusting the position of the printing device in a predefined matrix allowing deposit of the strand of expanded polymer at a predetermined time and precise position within the matrix, the printing device includes: a feed section, a transporting section, a surface melting section, and a terminal printing head section for depositing the expanded polymer strand onto the surface, and all of sections have the same inner diameter, and the surface melting section including a solid-state welding element, a laser beam, a generator of hot gas or liquid and/or a generator of heat.

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The Woodlands, TX, United States of America

Stephen Shields