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 wn. However, we thought we might bundle together several material announcements into one post, this one, for your review.
polySpectra Enters Desktop Market
polySpectra is a California-based producer of engineering-quality resins for additive manufacturing. The company’s flagship product is COR Alpha resin, which when printed results in very strong parts that are not brittle, as is typically found with most resins.
The news is that they’ve introduced a new formulation of this resin that works with 405nm wavelengths. This enables use of this powerful resin on almost all desktop resin 3D printers.
There are big implications here, as this enables desktop 3D printer operators to produce very expensive parts using their inexpensive equipment. polySpectra suggests there could be massive ROIs available for many new customers.
AddUp Introduces New Tooling Material
AddUp Group announced an unusual new material, AISI 420 steel for use in their LPBF metal 3D printers. The material is unusual in that it is commonly used by manufacturers to produce injection molds using conventional processes, such as CNC milling.
Now AddUp Group has reformulated the material so that it is possible to 3D print injection molds using this same material. AddUp Group explains:
“Also referred to in the German standard as 1.4021 or 1.2083, this stainless steel is commonly used to manufacture molds for plastic injection molding, as it has both high mechanical strength and good corrosion resistance.”
VSHAPER’s New CF PEEK Filament
VSHAPER’s new PEEK CF engineering 3D printer filament is said to contain 15% carbon fiber segments, which should make parts printed with this high-temperature material extremely strong.
VSHAPER said parts made with PEEK CF have 20% higher tensile strength when compared with normal PEEK prints.
Mechnano
Mechnano announced a new nano-uniform ESD resin that can be used to 3D print trays and holders for PCB reflow processes. Normally these holders would be subjected to very high temperatures, but at the same time must protect the PCBs from static discharge. Now that’s possible with the new resin.
AON3D
AON3D announced a new line of 3D printer filaments for their industrial 3D printers. The AON3D “Readyprint” are said to be industrial grade, and suitable for production parts.
The initial set of materials includes:
- ABS, ESD ABS, and Carbon Fiber ABS
- ASA
- HIPS
- PC
- PEI 9085
- Amorphous PEKK
- PPSU
- PETG and Carbon Fiber PETG
- 92A TPU
