Development Process for Custom Three-Dimensional Printing (3DP) Material Systems

The development of a new material system for three-dimensional printing (3DP) can be difficult without experience in the field, since the flexibility of the 3DP process implies a large number of material and processing parameters. This paper presents a detailed explanation of the steps involved in developing specific implementations of 3DP, along with tools and insight for each step. This material system development procedure should provide a clear understanding of the 3DP process steps and development decisions to help the user take advantage of the considerable flexibility of 3DP and expedite a new system development. The paper concludes with a demonstration of how the guidance provided is applied in the development of fully dense ceramic dental copings; a research problem uniquely suited to the flexibility of 3DP.