Water -soluble support material -PVA (polyvinyl alcohol)

Guide: PVA, that is, polyvinyl alcohol, is a material widely used in the 3D printing industry. It has the nature of solubility in water, so it can be used for the support of FDM printing. This provides users with a very large degree of design freedom and provides possibilities for creating parts with complex geometric shapes without affecting the quality of printing. Antarctic bear sorted out the material characteristics of PVA and its role in 3D printing. Come and understand!

The characteristics of PVA in 3D printing

At the technical level, PVA is part of the synthetic polymer family, and its special thing is that it is biodegradable. PVA is made of polyperthylin, and then obtained the filament form that can be used for 3D printing through hydrolysis. It has a transparent to gray -white appearance and has a strong resistance to oil and oil. In addition to a very good adhesive performance similar to other thermoplastic plastics such as PLA, CPE or nylon, this material also has high stretching strength and flexibility. In order to obtain a good bearing effect, PVA usually needs to preheat the printing platform between 45 -60OC and place the temperature of the extruder between 180-200OC. It is odorless and non -toxic, which can be degraded by biological, making it safe to humans, animals and environment.

One of the main advantages of PVA is its high dissolution ability. It only needs water to remove, that is, solvents with more complex components. In addition, it does not need any additional hardware. At the same time, we also need to understand some of the shortcomings of PVA. One of them is the high degree of sensitivity to water, which will directly affect the performance of the material. In order not to change its characteristics, it must be preserved in dry air. If the nozzle keeps high temperature when it is not squeezed out, PVA will easily cause blockage (at high temperature). In addition, its price is relatively expensive.

Use and application

As a soluble material, PVA is an ideal support material for manufacturing parts with complex geometric shapes and inner cavity, concept models and molds. 3D printing support can improve the molding quality of parts, and also allows directional optimization of parts to improve its mechanical properties. The important point to consider when using this material is the configuration of the extruder. Cooling PVA thermal end in free time will prevent exudation and blockage. In addition, it is recommended to set the distance between the top support to 0 to get better surface smoothness. Because support will be dissolved, it is not important whether they adhere to the final components during the manufacturing process.

Antarctic bear was informed that Ultimaker, a professional 3D printed global leader, launched a professional PVA removal station on October 14, 2021: PVA Removal Station to accelerate the prototype development process.

The removal of PVA usually needs to be dissolved in water for a long time. According to the size of the support structure, the complexity and density of the design, it may take more than one day to complete it. Ultimaker's PVA removal station shortened this time by 75%. It also reduces the operation time and no longer needs to manually remove the PVA or check the dissolving process. LTIMAKER's PVA removal is easy to use, clean and maintain. Remove the station with 13.5 liters of water. When the PVA is dissolved, the direction of the water flow circulation will be automatically changed, and the speed can be adjusted as needed. It also has a basket and partition for fixed printing parts and keeps them immersed. The saturation index can indicate whether the water needs to be replaced, and the container is transparent and convenient to quickly view the dissolution process.