Page 54 - Plastics News June 2017

PRODUCT NEWS

Stratasys unveils new printing materials likely to compress

3D printing

srael-based Stratasys has unveiled two new printing chopped carbon fiber, which increases the tensile strength
Imaterials that may compress the product development 5 times over that of unfilled Nylon 12 and twice the
cycle during AM processes. The first, FDM Nylon 12CF, flexural strength of unfilled Nylon 12. Dissolvable support
is a carbon fiber-filled thermoplastic created for higher material is another feature of Nylon 12CF, eliminating the
strength and stiffness requirements than other plastics and, time-consuming process of manual support removal. Beta
as a result, it’s strong enough to replace metal components customers (the material will be available this quarter)
in a range of applications where a combination of stiffness,
strength and low weight are important to performance. have reported that they are able to print using 12CF
These applications may include drill guides, end-of-arm faster and make significant cuts to product development
times, prototyping parts that formerly took two months
in under two weeks.
Designers can quickly create parts that are close to the
strength of metal parts or glass-filled Nylon 6/6, and
will be of particular value to design engineers making
low-volume production parts with unique structural
requirements, where high strength in one direction is
required. The FDM Nylon 12CF material is designed for
Fortus 450mc Production 3D Printer and is compatible with
soluble support SR-11-. It can produce parts in a layer
thickness of 0.010 inches (0.254 mm).
Concurrent with the introduction of Nylon12CF, Stratasys
tooling, brackets, jigs, fixtures and even metal forming is also debuting a new photopolymer material for its
tools: products that were infeasible for 3D printing in the PolyJet 3D printing process. Agilus30 is a new line of
past. And second Agilus30 a new line of rubber-like high- rubber-like high-durability flexible materials that can
durability flexible materials that can withstand repeated
flexing without tearing or deforming. withstand repeated flexing without tearing or deforming.
Agilus30’s ability to flex will allow it to replace existing
FDM Nylon 12CF overcomes some design restrictions soft elastomers such as Shore scale A 30.
usually encountered when prototyping using composites
or metal. Designers are able to go directly from the design The material, which is available in black or translucent,
on the screen to a fully functional carbon-filled prototype is expected to enable greater freedom to handle and test
in-house. Users can rapidly produce strong, light-weight flexible parts and prototypes while delivering a high level
and rigid components for functional prototyping, which of accuracy, fine details and enhanced product realism,
greatly reduces new product time-to-market. and for modeling delicate parts that undergo repeated
Nylon 12CF has been used to replace metal support fixtures flexing and bending. Examples of applications that will
where the stiffness/strength meets the requirement, benefit from Agilus30 include over-molding, soft-touch and
but there is also a gain in ergonomics due to the lighter living hinges, hoses, seals and gaskets, as well as knobs,
material, according to Stratasys FDM Product Manager, grips, pulls, and handles. Agilus30, like Nylon 12CF, also
Chris Rollag. The stiffness-to-weight ratio is taking features compatibility with soluble support of overhanging
advantage of the weight savings of a polymer compared to features that require a base to build upon, which saves
the higher density of metal parts. Nylon 12CF contains 35% significant time, cost and labor.

Plastics News | June 2017 54