Fused Deposition Modeling FDM is the fastest growing method within the Rapid Prototyping technologies. Today a huge range of different machine types for industrial but also private applications are available. In this paper the technical and economic conditions for the operation of a commercial FDM system for industrial applications, especially suitable for small and medium sized enterprises SME is determined. This FDM system offers the opportunity to choose from different filling methods in order to reduce materials consumption as well as building time and thereby costs. Therefore the achievable material strengths as well as the material and energy consumption of this FDM system are investigated. The results of these investigations show the influence of the filling degree on the strength of build specimen. Furthermore an economic comparison of the filling methods is given. This gives the costumer the opportunity to optimize the FDM process properly for stress and strain but also for economic reasons.
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