Last Updated on July 4, 2022 by Leizi
3D printing is a small-scale production technique used to produce models. Its main advantages include high efficiency, high quality, and flexibility. Therefore, it has a wide range of applications in various fields of society, and is often used to produce functional and conceptual prototypes, effectively helping designers and engineers to validate their designs.
But after the 3D printing project is completed, the surface may be rough, so we often need some surface treatment to make the 3D printing sample more perfect, such as enhancing the surface smoothness, increasing the durability, and improving the corrosion resistance.
Now the technology of surface treatment has gradually changed from fully manual to semi-automatic or even fully automatic, so the surface treatment cost of 3D printed parts has gradually decreased.
These surface treatments have many effects on many aspects of the 3D printed prototype, such as wall thickness, weight, shape, etc.
Next, we will give a more detailed introduction to the various surface treatments commonly used in 3D printing:
1. Grinding. This is one of the basic surface treatments used for 3D printed parts. You may be familiar with this finish. Throughout the sanding process, we use different levels of sandpaper to remove excess material, making the surface of the 3D printed part smoother and more aesthetically pleasing. At the same time, sanding takes longer.
2. Sandblasting. This finish is commonly used for metal 3D prints and is easy to handle. For rough-surfaced prints, sandblasting at high pressure increases the surface cleanliness by applying different types of abrasive media, and also achieves a matte finish. This enhances various mechanical properties of the metal, such as corrosion resistance and metal fatigue strength.