Sheet Lamination

3D Printing Technology
CAM & Automation

Rishika Jaiswal
2018ume0147
What is Sheet Lamination?
- One of the 7 types of additive manufacturing processes

- Thin sheets of material (usually supplied via a system of feed rollers) are bonded
together layer-by-layer to form a single piece that is cut into a 3D object

- Lamination methods- bonding, ultrasonic welding, brazing etc.

- Final shape is achieved either by laser cutting or CNC machining

Types of Sheet Lamination
Sheet lamination can be subdivided into groups based on build material used, forming
methods employed, lamination technique, etc.

Form then Bond process – Sheet material is cut to shape first and then bonded to the base or
previous layer to create a 3D geometry
Bond then Form Process – In this process as the name suggests sheet material layers are
bonded together before cutting them into the desired shape

Considering all the above variations, sheet lamination can be categorized into the following 7
types;
1. Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM)
2. Selective Lamination Composite Object Manufacturing (SLCOM)
3. Plastic Sheet Lamination (PSL)
4. Computer-Aided Manufacturing of Laminated Engineering Materials (CAM-LEM)
5. Selective Deposition Lamination (SDL)
6. Composite Based Additive Manufacturing (CBAM)
7. Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM)
Components
Main Components
1. Build Platform
2. Material Supply Roll
3. Waste Take-up Roll
4. Heated Roller
5. Laser
6. Mirror
7. Optic Head
How Does It Work?
Steps

• 3D Model Creation
• STL file Creation
• STL file transfer.
• Machine set up.
• 3D Printing.
• Part removal.
• Post Processing.
How Does It Work?
How Does It Work?
1. The first step is to place the material that is to be 3D printed on the cutting bed of the machine.
2. Parts are produced by stacking, bonding, and cutting layers of adhesive-coated sheet
material on top of the previous one.
3. A laser cuts the outline of the part into each layer based on the data from the model.
4. Cutting the envelope and the crosshatch.
5. Once a layer is done, the heated roller applies heat and pressure to bond it with the
previous layer.
6. Table moves down according to the thickness of the sheet.
7. Now the waste take up roller rotates to take up the scrap material and providing the fresh
sheet for next layer.
8. These steps are repeated unless we get the final product.
Material Suitability
Process Material options
LOM Papers
PSL Most polymers
Carbon Fibre, Fiberglass, Aramid Fibre (i.e. Kevlar), PBO (i.e. Zylon), along
SLCOM
with metal fibres like steel, aluminium or titanium
Alumina Other ceramics available for use in our processes include zirconia,
CAM-LEM zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA), silica, and a variety of oxide and non-
oxide ceramics.
SDL Standard paper
Long-fibre fabrics bonded with thermoplastic matrix materials. Carbon fibre
CBAM
combined with either Nylon12, PEEK and glass fibre with Nylon 12 and PEEK

UAM Metals
Advantages
• Faster print times
• Relatively lower cost
• Ease of material handling
• No support structures necessary
• Larger working area than most of the current AM technology equipment
• Full-color prints – LOM/SDL can print in the whole color spectrum
• Multi-material layers possible (UAM)
• In some cases, cut material can be easily recycled
Disadvantages
•Layer height depends on sheet thickness
•Post Processing is needed
•Bonding Strength dependent on lamination technique used
•Limitations of material
•Making of hollow parts is difficult
•Material waste can be high
Applications
• Rapid prototyping
• For making molds
• Topographic Maps
• Art and Sculptures
• Architectural Models
References
1. Additive Manufacturing 101-6: What is sheet lamination? - Canada Makes
2. Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM) (custompartnet.com)
3. Sheet Lamination | Additive Manufacturing Research Group | Loughborough
University (lboro.ac.uk)
4. All About Sheet Lamination/Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM) 3D Printing
(thomasnet.com)
5. What is Sheet Lamination, its types and application
(engineeringproductdesign.com)
Thank You