New AM Materials Round Up, December 30, 2022

Several new AM materials were announced in past weeks.

We often receive notes from manufacturers that have developed new and unique materials, but most times the news value is relatively low and these do not warrant a story on their own. However, we thought we might bundle together several material announcements into one post, this one, for your review.

AON3D Demonstrates Extremely Strong 3D Print Material

AON3D worked with Zymergen, Hexagon, and 3D4Makers to perform an incredible demonstration of 3D printed part strength. The Z2 Polyimide material was tested by the Royal Netherlands Navy in a linear test configuration.

The part, which was only 20mm wide, was able to hold up a load of 432kg, quite a feat. Interestingly, the part ultimately broke — as happens in this type of testing — but not on the layer lines. Instead, the part broke in different layers, suggesting that isotropic properties of the print were substantial. AON3D explains:

“The Z2 Polyimide part printed on the AON M2+ fractured exactly in the location predicted by the Digimat AM software, and with a fracture that propagated across multiple layers, rather than just across a single layer. This demonstrates an incredible amount of isotropy for a polymer extrusion-based part.”

Kimya’s New Flame Resistant Filament

Kimya announced a new flame-resistant 3D printer filament, PC-FR. This material is made from polycarbonate, and should be suitable for industrial and production use. The material has an enormous active usage range from -80C to +105C, and has been certified with a number of standards.

Zortrax Launches “Full Metal Packages”

Zortrax announced what they call “Full Metal” packages of materials for their Endureal series of 3D printers. These machines are advanced, high temperature FFF machines optimized for industrial use, and you wouldn’t normally expect to be able to 3D print metal on such equipment.

However, the new Full Metal packages do allow this to take place. The packages are essentially filaments made with high ratios of metal powder, which print in the normal FFF fashion. After printing the prints can be sintered to debind the polymer and fuse the metal particles together into solid metal objects. They explain:

“Zortrax Full Metal Package contains all the essentials for an easy start with metal 3D printing and includes either BASF Ultrafuse® 316L or BASF Ultrafuse® 17-4 PH – metal-polymer filaments from our partner, a global chemical leader, BASF Forward AM.”

The packages include not only the metal filaments, but also suitable BASF support material, Magigoo for bed adhesion, a new hot end, and a coupon for professional post processing services.

They also announced a powerful new high temperature polymer filament, VICTREX PAEK AM 200, which has a lower softening temperature than PEEK.

UpNano’s New UpFlow 2PP Material for IVF

UpNano announced “UpFlow”, a new material for use in their 2PP NanoOne devices that should be useful for in-vitro fertilization work. They explain:

“UpFlow, a photopolymerizing material developed by UpNano GmbH (Austria), allows the fast and precise 3D-printing of micro-environments for a novel type of dynamic cell culture. Developed by IVF-specialist Fertilis Pty Ltd (Australia), this offers a better controlled and less variable environment for embryos before implantation and mimics the human body closer than other products currently on the market. Together with a NanoOne 2PP 3D-printer by UpNano, this allows for a 30 – 40% reduction of implantation cycles as commonly required to get pregnant, thus saving patients’ emotional and financial pain.”

Mechnano Announces Tough ESD Photopolymer

Mechnano added a new material to their portfolio of AM materials, “Tough ESD”. They explain:

“Mechnano has developed another Additive Manufacturing (AM) resin based on its breakthrough MechT technology that utilizes the power of discrete Carbon Nanotubes (dCNTs). The new photopolymer —“Tough ESD”—delivers isotropic electrostatic dissipative (ESD) properties to parts fabricated with VAT Photopolymerization processes, while also providing enhanced impact resistance.”

What’s really interesting is that they are providing this product in “white label” form, meaning it is very likely going to appear alongside 3D printers with different branding.

Sintavia and Lockheed Martin Partner On Materials

Sintavia and Lockheed Martin announced they are collaborating to develop new AM materials for casting and forging applications. They explain:

“The new collaboration will explore additional AM technology areas, including laser powder bed fusion, electron beam-directed energy deposition and friction stir AM.

This enhanced relationship builds on the White House initiative ‘AM Forward,’ announced by President Joe Biden in May, a voluntary compact aimed at strengthening U.S. supply chains by supporting U.S.-based suppliers’ adoption and deployment of AM.”