On Thursday, 5th December, undergraduate students of Polytechnics, worked at 3D Laboratory at UDG.

Students were divided in four different groups for workshops that were organized by teaching assistant and lab engineer of UDG. Each group was consisted from five to eight students who got prior knowledge about product design in subjects “Modern technologies” and “Mechanics of materials”.

In the first part of workshop students tested mechanical characteristic of materials which are used for 3D printing and materials which are used at building sites, such as steel wire. Students, based on their knowledge from subject “Mechanic of materials”, compered these materials by their ductility, strength and type of fracture. Finally, they made some conclusions about their application. The laboratory device used for testing these samples was Shimadzu EZ tester. Results were analyzed by Trapezium X software which shows the results in real time.

Second part of workshop was consisted from designing 3D model and printing it at one of 3D printers. Students designed, with lab engineer, keychain and tested various models. Testing depended from slicing methods and infill pattern. After 3D model was designed and decided which printing method will be used, printing started at 3D printer RepRap Protos 3D printer. This 3D printer uses PLA plastic as printing material. Apart from this 3D printer, there is also powder based 3D printer, ProJet 666.