Time to read: 6 min
我们正在看两个较低的分辨率和便宜的分辨率3D printingmaterials for prototyping:腹肌andPLA. When will PLA suffice? When do you gain much more by going with ABS?
A lot of people look at price and automatically choose to print in PLA because hey, it’s the cheapest material! But depending on your design, sometimes PLA isn’t the best option. If you have overhangs, complex geometries involving support, or are more concerned about surface finish, ABS is often the better choice, while still being cost-conscious. It’s worth spending a bit more to have a useful prototype than to cut costs and have an unsuitable—or sometimes even failed—part!
我们将在选择材料时查找设计功能，以确保您在早期产品开发中的设计和材料选择中获得最大的价值。
Key Differences
Both PLA and ABS useFDM技术for printing, but the key difference comes from the quality of the printers and how parts are produced using each material. While the achievable specs of the materials are the same, the consistency and quality of ABS is better because of the professional machines used.
Support Material
PLA使用脱离支撑物（与PLA丝本身相同的刚性材料）打印。手动（通过钳子）移除此支撑，这意味着与支撑结构接触的表面更粗糙。
由于支持被打破，对于复杂或脆弱的功能，因此删除支撑可能会破坏零件功能。
在某些情况下,解放军不支持打印ll, in order to get a smoother surface or to avoid the breaking of certain components. The tradeoff is that overhang features are more prone to sagging. If you’re considering PLA, check out ourDesign Guidelines for Prototyping with PLAfor a more in-depth look.
If you do have a simple shape with a flat base, flat surfaces, and no overhangs, like a box, or even a simple upright cylinder, PLA often ends up looking just as good as ABS, and it’s more cost-effective. In such cases, you don’t lose much at all by choosing PLA over ABS.
腹肌uses a soluble support system. Support is removed via immersion in a bath, followed by drying of the part. As long as every feature has a clearing for the support to be removed, and there are no enclosed channels, support is removed very cleanly.
Therefore, ABS is great with more delicate and/or complex features and is the better material for parts that have overhangs or require a higher-quality surface finish.
Consistency
PLAis printed in open-air conditions, so it’s more vulnerable to temperature fluctuations that affect cooling conditions. Since conditions are not as strictly controlled, tolerances have greater variation. The way the resin cools has a significant impact on how consistent the part is to the digital design, so beware when your part requires very precise dimensions!
了解打印机和单个印刷品之间的一致性也是一件好事。可以使用不同的机器，并且丝本身之间存在差异。结果，就颜色而言，虽然两个不同的打印作业可能表示“相同”的颜色，但由于PLA丝材料颜色未标准化，但它们的色调可能略有不同。在不同时间打印的零件之间，很难匹配颜色。
即使使用相同的机器和相同的灯丝，露天条件也意味着打印可能会根据一天中的时间而受到影响。不同的室温和湿度可能会导致不同的光泽水平。此外，由于构建床不是绝缘的，因此大的PLA零件更容易受到翘曲和/或收缩的影响。
腹肌在封闭的环境和更受控的条件下打印。这种受控过程有助于消除PLA印刷中可能发生的扭曲和收缩。对于复杂形状而言，质量明显优于PLA，并且ABS在尺寸上更准确。
For reference, and if you’re keeping track of value and of costs, note that PLA is printed on ~$3k hobbyist machines, whereas ABS is printed on ~$100k range professional machines. As such, there is much greater reliability and consistency in ABS printing than in PLA, as the quality of the machine is much greater.
材料特性
PLAis a more brittle and weaker material than ABS. Mechanical features like snap fits, or some that require more detail, like threads, tend to break or not resolve well in the production.
While not as strong, PLA is food-safe and biodegradable, so if you are working with food, consider using PLA for early testing (learn more about food-safe prototypinghere).
腹肌will have greater strength, so it should be the choice for very early-stage mechanical testing.
结合和组装
For large parts,PLAcan be bonded to other PLA pieces by heat bond. With PLA’s melting temperature around 130℉, the parts can be welded via soldering iron and will have a clean, yet visible, bond line. If printing a part in components and bonding them together, keep in mind that aesthetically, there would be a seam in PLA.
For large parts,腹肌可以连着其他ABS丙酮吗ld (simply brushing the surface with acetone and joining two pieces). This chemically bonds two ABS pieces, resulting in not only much greater aesthetic (much less visible seam), but it also preserves the structural properties of the whole piece.
设计特点
So when will PLA suffice? When do you gain much more by going with ABS?
根据支持材料，机器的质量和材料的特性，ABS最适合更复杂的设计，以及您在表面表面表面，一致性和强度方面要求更多时。
For simple geometries and when precision is not of essence, PLA works very well. In some cases and for certain specific designs, it will look very close to ABS, albeit being less expensive. Here are some quick guidelines to look out for in your design:
*Note that while ABS is superior to PLA for complex designs and contoured shapes, it will still have visible stepping. For the greatest quality and the best finish for highly complex/intricate designs and organic surfaces, that’s where you want to step up to apolyjetprinter!
Side by Side
由于图片价值一千个单词，因此以下是用于打印无人机组件的两种材料的比较。
原型考虑
如果您处于原型制作周期，这里还有一些其他实用和后勤考虑因素，可用于选择材料。当您努力达到截止日期或需要向投资者或参与方呈现部分时，请将这些内容保持在您的脑海中！
Takeaway
As long as you know what to expect from PLA, it’s a great prototyping material! Use it for rough prototyping and when you need to flesh out a concept quickly and cheaply.
When you require greater consistency, have complex features, and are still in the early prototyping stage, ABS is the way to go. ABS is also advantageous in that these prints, by virtue of machine quality and controlled conditions, are much less susceptible to production failures than PLA.
Just make sure that whatever material you go with, it will give you the most value. If PLA isn’t well suited, even though it’s cheaper, you won’t gain very much from your prototype. Better to have something that works well than to cut costs on something that does not work at all!
It’s important to prototype quickly, so you can fail early and fail often. That’s where these lower-resolution materials shine! As parting advice, just be sure that you learn something from every prototype, and that the material selection will allow you to learn, rather than impeding your learnings by compromising parts of your design.
只要您这样做，您就可以通过产品开发生命周期进行巡航（嗯，真的是磨碎的，因为这是一个坚韧不拔的过程）！
