{"id":19881,"date":"2023-08-03T07:47:20","date_gmt":"2023-08-03T07:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thinkin3d.cat\/fabricacio-additiva-amb-pellets\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T09:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T09:01:08","slug":"additive-manufacturing-with-pellets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinkin3d.cat\/en\/additive-manufacturing-with-pellets\/","title":{"rendered":"Additive Manufacturing with Pellets: Advantages and Applications"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Additive manufacturing with pellets offers numerous possibilities for businesses and researchers. Unlike filament, pellets allow working with more materials and with greater flexibility. In this article, we explain what pellets are, what advantages they bring, and how ThinkIn 3D leverages this technology to innovate in prototyping and production projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Differences Between Additive Manufacturing with Pellets and Filament<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Pellets are small plastic beads of a few millimetres, while filament is a continuous thread. Both raw materials are melted layer by layer, but their application and costs differ. Filament requires very strict diameter control and more complex quality processes, while pellets are more accessible and cost-effective. Moreover, some materials only exist in pellet form, which broadens manufacturing options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Material Origins and Costs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Filament requires strict diameter control and more complex quality processes, which makes the material more expensive. Pellet-based additive manufacturing, on the other hand, is more accessible, as pellets allow testing materials that do not exist in filament form. This means that using pellets opens up new possibilities in research and production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agility and Efficiency in 3D Printing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A key advantage of pellets is that they enable a continuous process, without the need to change spools as with filament. This reduces downtime and makes production faster. Additionally, it allows reusing proprietary materials or fragments from injection processes (regrind), which facilitates research and development with new compounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bigfoot
Bigfoot Pro 3D printer working with pellets<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Main Benefits of Additive Manufacturing with Pellets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Cost reduction: <\/strong>pellets are cheaper than filaments and easy to find.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Agility:<\/strong> material melting and extrusion is faster than with filament.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Versatility:<\/strong> allows working with different materials, such as SEBS, TPU, reinforced polyamides, ceramics, or plastics like PLA, PP, PC, ABS, PEEK or PEI.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Speed:<\/strong> production is continuous and there is no need to change spools.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Sustainability<\/strong>: recycled materials can be reused and waste reduced, beyond the inherent savings of additive manufacturing.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"Prototyping
    ThinkIn 3D Matar\u00f3 is equipped with a wide range of equipment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Applications at ThinkIn 3D<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    At ThinkIn 3D we use pellet printers to prototype and produce small parts. This allows us to validate designs before manufacturing costly moulds and to experiment with new materials without increasing costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Els p\u00e8l\u00b7lets s\u00f3n petites boles de pl\u00e0stic de la grand\u00e0ria d’un gra d’arr\u00f2s gran, mentre que el filament \u00e9s una esp\u00e8cie de fil continu de pl\u00e0stic. Tots dos es fonen per a fabricar un objecte capa a capa, per\u00f2 les implicacions de fer servir l’un o l’altre s\u00f3n una mica diferents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5380,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-19881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thinkin3d","tag-featured"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAdditive Manufacturing with Pellets: Advantages and Applications | Thinkin3D<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the advantages of additive manufacturing with pellets and its applications: more agile, cost-effective and sustainable than filament.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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