It’s been more than three years that specialty chemicals company Evonik and machine manufacturer Farsoon have been working together on the development and qualification of new materials for Farsoon’s powder bed fusion systems. One of the results of this partnership led to the qualification of Evonik’s INFINAM® PA 6005 P (polyamide 613) for Farsoon’s ST252P and HT403P series machines.
Today, both companies announce the commercialization of a new ready-to-use elastomer powder material: the INFINAM® TPC (thermoplastic copolyester). The team at Farsoon Americas Demo Center conducted the process testing of this material. Together, with the Evonik team, they ensured the repeatability of benchmark parts with optimal mechanical properties.
Farsoon’s collaboration with Evonik is a reminder that the machine manufacturer advocates an open systems philosophy in order to enable its customers to have the freedom to choose among a wide range of quality materials for their production.
“We are very happy to work with the material experts at Evonik on their new TPC material. With Farsoon’s open systems, we along with Evonik are able to produce parts with excellent elastic properties, enabling us to provide our customers with an even greater choice when it comes to material selection,” confirms Don Xu, Managing Director of Farsoon America.
So, what are the key characteristics of INFINAM TPC
INFINAM TPC is a high-performance flexible thermoplastic co-polyester powder. Described as first on the market, 3D printed parts produced with this material deliver Tear Strength, outstanding Elongation at Break, superior Impact Resistance, and excellent Rebound!
TPC prints consistently and reliably, offers easy post-processing and brings great material properties for a wide variety of applications in markets including Automotive, Sporting Goods, and Medical, Evonik explains. To ensure the qualification on Farsoon’s machines, numerous test builds in x, y, and z orientations have been performed at varying material refresh rates to successfully hone in machine parameters. This enables to deliver accurate material properties reflected on Evonik’s material data sheets.
“We see both strength and flexibility in this new TPC material,” says Ray Jones, Applications and Technical Pre-sale of Farsoon Americas. “It is of excellent elasticity and is easy to process with Farsoon’s powderbed fusion technology. Post-processing is efficient as well, from breakout and media blasting to sieving.”
“We believe in open source platforms as a market growth booster to unbound 3D printing at scale. Furthermore, an open technology approach also meets our material development focus on ready-to-use high-performance materials for main 3D printing technologies”, says Dr. Arnim Kraatz, Director of Powder Bed Fusion at Evonik. “Having successfully qualified our PA613 powders on Farsoon’s machines two years ago, we are now jointly entering the market for elastomer-based 3D applications. This will open up new opportunities for users to push boundaries of 3D printing by being able to manufacture tough parts with reliable and easy processing.”
With this announcement, Evonik and Farsoon are sending INFINAM® TPC sample prints to existing customers and a free 20kg testing kit for any customers interested in testing them. One month after the initial launch, this offer will be open to the public, sign up here if you are interested in trying the material.
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