Material extrusion is a 3D-printing technology which, like all 3d printing technologies builds a part layer by layer. In this technology a thermoplastic polymer gets heated and extruded through a moving nozzle. The feedstock material is in most cases a polymer filament while there are also variants with polymer granulate as feedstock.
The available materials reach from PLA to ABS to metal particle filled filaments that, after debinding and sintering offer a solid steel part.
Other names for MEX are FDM, FFF and some more. Standardization committees have decided on the name MEX for this process.
As in many other 3D printing technologies it is important to use support structures to build overhangs.
MEX is widely available for the consumer as there are printers which cost around 100 $ and less, but there are also industrially used variants which cost up to 200 000 $. The quality difference mirrors the price as well, as parts printed with a consumer printer are often mechanically weak and not very accurate, while high precision parts from industrial printers can easily be functional parts for high end products.
