There are many online services that are trying to classify and organize the world of 3D printing to help professionals gain easier access to these new technologies and the possibilities they offer. 3DPI does it with information; others, like Additively, do it by creating databases of 3D printing service companies and, now, materials.
I have personally counted about 350 different 3D printable materials, hybrids, and alloys. Additively has done the same in its new Material Finder and, leveraging the team’s expertise on the subject (the company is an ETH Zurich spinoff, built by people who have been using and studying additive manufacturing for years) it has classified them so that they are searchable for their characteristic and applications.
The Material Finder is an easy-to-use tool to search a database that started with 250 3D printing materials and is now up to 335. They are listed by various characteristics, mechanical and physical properties and many other criteria. Each material has a detailed material page with information, applications and reviews.
“With the Material Finder, we strongly improve the Application and enable engineers to use the full potential of our network,” says Fabian Rahm, CTO and co-founder of Additively. “With the tool, they can easily identify suitable materials offered by the suppliers in the network and then directly collect quotations for their parts.”
The Additively Application – which includes over 300 3D printing services worldwide – is free to use, along with the integrated Material Finder, but it could bring a significant added value to those who use it.
