Materials producer Covestro focuses its presence at formnext on the release of four new materials designed for various 3D printing technologies: a soluble support material for FDM/FFF, a soft material for Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) with a high energy return, and two highly flowable thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) powders for SLS and High Speed Sintering (HSS).
Addigy® FPC SOL1 HT provides a soluble support materialfor FDM printing of overhangs and cavities in high temperature materials such as polyether ether ketone (PEEK), with up to 100 percent infill of the support structures. The filament is easy to print without pre-drying. After printing, the translucent material can be removed easily and quickly by dissolving in a standard chemical solvent resulting in smooth surfaces. Both solvent and support material can be reused after a simple distillation process, making it a more sustainable solution.
Soft, elastomeric materials typically don’t 3D print easily. With Arnitel® AM3001 (P) for SLS (Arnitel® is a licensed trademark of DSM), Covestro material scientists successfully combined both. A Shore hardness of A88 and D35 with an excellent elongation at break, the thermoplastic copolyester exhibits a very high energy return. It processes easily and without common side effects such as odors. The material is compliant with Directive 2009/48/EC on Toy Safety and pending biocompatibility approval. The material shall be available for customer evaluation and development early in 2022.
Covestro is announcing both an SLS and an HSS version of its thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) powder Addigy® PPU 86AW6. These materials exhibit excellent rebound, easy post-processing and high reuse rate of unsintered powder. Their easy handling during the printing process and properties make them suitable for a broad range of applications.
The four new materials complement Covestro’s recently launched Somos® resins for SLA and DLP, and the company’s relaunch of the Low Smoke glass-filled PA6-66 flame retardant filament that they acquired in 2020.
Covestro now offers one of the largest choices in polymers for 3D printing since its acquisition of the additive manufacturing business from DSM earlier this year.
“If we want manufacturers to increasingly adopt additive manufacturing in industrial production, they need access to many more functional materials with properties matching their applications in terms of performance, regulations, safety and quality,” said Hugo da Silva, Head of Additive Manufacturing at Covestro. “It takes solid material expertise to design materials that exhibit the required properties, not only when coming off the printer though also over time, in varying functional and environmental conditions.“
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