SABIC, a leader in the chemical industry, is spotlighting its diverse and expanding collaborations at FORMNEXT 2019 (Hall 12.1, B61).
“As the additive manufacturing industry grows and diversifies, there is increasing demand for specialized materials that can be delivered when, where and how they are needed throughout the value chain,” said Keith Cox, senior business manager, Additive Manufacturing, SABIC. This includes materials in filament form, high-performance resins, materials tuned to specific printers, and specialty compounds.
Printable Material Providers
For providers of printable materials for proprietary equipment or for general use, SABIC offers specialized resins formulated for extrusion into filaments or the production of powders for selective laser sintering (SLS). For example, SABIC supplies ULTEM 9085 resin, a polyetherimide (PEI) blend, to Stratasys to produce filaments for its Fortus line of printers.
Equipment Manufacturers
Other equipment manufacturers collaborate with SABIC to develop high-performance printable material solutions aligned with their printer capabilities, to expand solutions for their customers. As recently announced, SABIC is providing ultra-high-temperature EXTEM AMHH811F filament to Italy’s ROBOZE for its ARGO production 3D printers.
The 247°C glass transition (Tg) temperature of EXTEM AMHH811F filament helps to expand opportunities for high-heat applications in a variety of industries. The two companies worked together to optimize printing parameters and secure UL Blue Card recognition with UL94-V0 certification at 0.75mm on samples printed with ROBOZE ARGO Production 3D printers. At the SABIC booth, several parts printed with EXTEM AMHH811F filament will be on display.
Part Manufacturers
Part manufacturers, including service bureaus, collaborate with SABIC to gain access to high-quality printable materials and related processing expertise and resources. SABIC’s filaments are developed to meet stringent specifications that help ensure consistent processing, repeatability and optimized part performance. To benefit large-format additive manufacturers, SABIC compounds provide reduced lot-to-lot and within-lot variability, which helps improve processing consistency that is critical for multi-hour printing projects.
For instance, SABIC supplies LNP THERMOCOMP AM compounds to Additive Engineering Solutions (AES), a U.S.-based large format service bureau. SABIC’s expertise in large format additive manufacturing materials and processing have been developed over several years of hands-on work with its in-house Cincinnati Incorporated Big Area Additive Manufacturing machine, located at the Pittsfield Polymer Processing Development Center in Massachusetts, USA. This knowledge is helping AES save time and resources by optimizing printing and expediting troubleshooting. AES’s printed parts on display at the SABIC stand include a high-heat autoclavable tool for composites made with an ULTEM-based compound and a scaled-down version of a large precast concrete mold made with a reinforced acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS)-based compound. Gate Precast used 3D printed precast concrete molds in the redevelopment of the Domino Sugar Refinery property in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Specifiers/OEMs
To support the application development activities of specifiers and OEMs, SABIC offers unique chemistries, materials expertise, processing knowledge and a deep understanding of requirements for vertical industries such as healthcare, automotive and aerospace. In its ongoing collaboration with Local Motors, headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., SABIC is supplying materials from its LNP THERMOCOMP AM portfolio of reinforced compounds, which are used in production of the Olli, the world’s first co-created, self-driving electric vehicle. This is the latest project for the two companies, whose history spans many years and includes development of the world’s first 3D-printed car.
In collaboration with the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University (WSU), SABIC is helping to develop high-temperature printable materials for use in autoclave composite tooling applications for the aerospace industry.
SABIC
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