When you’re finishing the design stage of product creation and the product needs to get to market fast, you’re likely considering rapid prototyping. Rapid prototyping uses turnkey fabrication technologies like 3D printing and CNC machining to produce prototypes quickly and avoid the costs and bottlenecks of going through multiple operations. This allows you to test a design’s fit, form, and function early and often so you can make necessary adjustments to the design and materials.
Rapid prototyping is all about speed and affordability. When you can get the right rapid prototyping materials for a low price from a fast, reliable source, you can work through iterations of a design quickly or even prototype multiple designs at once.
Sourcing the right material is an important step in the prototyping process. A sophisticated prototype sometimes requires materials with specific strength profiles, thermal or electrical conductivity, temperature resistance, or other special properties beyond those of widely available steel and aluminum. If you need unusual rapid prototyping materials like titanium or nickel-based superalloys, a local metal recycler can provide options like verified metal remnants to meet your needs for affordable prices.
Exotic Metals for Rapid Prototyping Materials
Steel is cheap and strong, and aluminum is an incredibly versatile material, but some prototypes have specifications that these common metals just can’t meet. Whether you need extra strength, temperature resistance, conductivity, or any other special property, there are other options for rapid prototyping materials that can handle the job.
Titanium and its alloys, for example, are often used for components that need to be strong while minimizing weight, like aerospace and automotive parts. When steel is too heavy, and aluminum isn’t strong enough, titanium may be the right choice. Titanium is also biocompatible, so it’s common in surgical equipment and implanted medical devices.
What if your prototype needs to be able to handle extreme conditions? Nickel-based superalloys like Monel, Hastelloy, and Invar have outstanding corrosion and temperature resistance, making these specialty metals good rapid prototyping materials for parts that will be exposed to corrosive fluids or extremely high temperatures.
Industrial Metal Service carries a wide variety of ferrous and nonferrous metal stock and offers quick and convenient delivery to manufacturers, fabricators, and machine shops in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationwide. Our inventory includes verified exotic and unusual metals such as:
- Commercially Pure Titanium
- Titanium 6-4
- Hastelloy
- Monel
- Inconel
- Invar
- Molybdenum
- Cupronickel
Verified Metal Remnants
Usually, the downside of working with exotic rapid prototyping materials like titanium or superalloys is the price. However, there’s an alternative to high mill prices. Many San Francisco Bay Area machine shops have found that verified metal remnants make excellent rapid prototyping materials and they’re often available at much lower prices than new metal sourced directly from the mill.
in the Bay Area generate massive amounts of high-quality, usable metal remnants. These remnants, though not useful to the manufacturer, are ideal for machine shops and fabricators that don’t require new, direct-from-the-mill alloys to meet specifications. Local metal recyclers like Industrial Metal Service specialize in recycling these usable metal remnants and providing them to customers as an affordable option for rapid prototyping materials.
Industrial Metal Service uses x-ray fluorescence technology to verify the chemical composition of our metal remnants, so you can be confident in the type and grade of metal you’re getting.
Where to Purchase Exotic Metals for Rapid Prototyping
Sourcing new metal directly from U.S. mills is expensive, and it may not be necessary. Industrial Metal Service offers verified metal remnants as an alternative to expensive new metal. We have an extensive inventory of verified metal remnants, including aluminum, stainless steel, titanium, Monel, and Invar, priced well below new metal.
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