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3D Printing News Briefs, August 5, 2020: Titan Robotics & Braskem, 3DPRINTUK

Today’s 3D Printing News Briefs is about materials and a 3D printed version of a real building. Titan Robotics and Braskem are partnering up to offer new solutions in 3D printed polypropylene, while 3DPRINTUK is expanding its materials and post-processing capabilities. Finally, the Coit Tower House in San Francisco now has a 3D printed miniature replica.

Titan Robotics & Braskem Announce Partnership

Braskem Polypropylene pellets for 3D printing

Production AM solutions provider Titan Robotics and petrochemical company Braskem have announced their strategic partnership, which has resulted in the launch of a new polypropylene (PP) resin that’s been optimized for 3D printing large-format production parts. The two companies spent over a year researching and developing the new material, which is the first commercially available grade of unfilled PP engineered specifically for 3D printing on Titan’s industrial Atlas 3D printers with pellet extrusion. The features of PP include chemical resistance, dimensional stability, impact strength, low density, recyclability, and thanks to this new partnership, Titan and Braskem will be able to offer improved industrial AM solutions.

“3D printing large parts using polypropylene resin has been a challenge for many years,” stated Rahul Kasat, Titan Robotics’ Chief Commercial Officer. “In collaboration with Braskem, a global leader in the polypropylene market, we have now solved that challenge. Our industrial customers will be able to print functional parts with this first of its kind polypropylene grade. We are also excited to continue to develop new polypropylene based solutions for our customers in collaboration with Braskem.”

Titan is also an authorized distributor of Braskem’s 3D printing pellet products.

3DPRINTUK Expanding Materials & Post-Processing

PEBA Dyed Close Up

SLS low volume production specialist 3DPRINTUK is branching out with its introduction of the flexible PrimePart 2301, a polyether block amide (PEBA) material with good chemical and water resistance, rubber-like characteristics not dissimilar to TPU, excellent detail resolution, and a higher melting point than most other resin-based elastomers. The material would be a good fit for batch production runs and rugged end-use applications, including handles, sports equipment, air ducts, and gaskets. Additionally, the company has invested in DyeMansion’s PowerShot S system, which uses a proprietary PolyShot Surfacing (PSS) process that allows 3DPRINTUK to offer a shot peening post-processing service that can improve the surface finish of 3D printed parts.

“At 3DPRINT UK we have honed and optimized the SLS 3D printing process over many years to achieve the best possible results off our machines for a wide range of relevant applications, that continue to grow in scope. However, the post processing of parts — from cleaning through to further optimised surface finishes — has always been a necessity for many of our clients. Expanding our post processing capabilities is a vital part of the business, and the DyeMansion PowerShot S system is an important next step in our expansion, enabling us to offer our many and varied clients the benefits of shot peened 3D printed parts from a single source,” said Nick Allen, the CEO and Founder of 3DPRINTUK.

3D Printed Coit Tower House

The 210′ tall Coit Tower was built in the early 1930s in San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill neighborhood as a way to beautify the city. The art deco tower, a recognizable sight on the city’s skyline, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in early 2008, and 12 years later, Yuriy Sklyar, the founder, CEO, and head of design & marketing at design studio Threefifty, has 3D printed a replica tower that stands over 7′ tall…a 1/20 scale. Utilizing a Creality CR10S5, a Replicator 2, and a MakerBot system, Sklyar, who has been utilizing 3D printing since 2013, called this unique project a “great opportunity to leave a lasting mark on the best city in the world – and its art community.” It took a month to create the base of the tower, as he had to redo a lot of it, eventually installing a heated silicone bed and heat enclosure to reduce the amount of warping. The next month was spent printing “the 4 giant sections of the fluted tower design.”

“Each one of these four sections, just like the real tower, consists of 4 sub-sections – I wanted to be very accurate with such details. At first these were limited in height by the 3rd party 3D printer, so only 2 sub-sections were supposed to be printed at a time, and then joined together with metal plates and nuts/bolts, but since I was now working on my own terms, I decided to reduce the amount of work for myself, and at the same time reduce the number of bolts/nuts/plates to just 4 sets, instead of 8,” Sklyar wrote.

“Each one of these sections takes about 3.5-4 days to print using a single 1.1mm shell @ 10% infill, which created for a surprisingly strong structure, since I instructed the infil to have a 45% overlap with inner and outer walls.”

You can check out his post for the very specific details of the project, but I’ll leave you with just a few – including all of the hardware used, the 3D printed Coit Tower weighs a total of 24 kg, and took over 7.5 km of ColorFabb’s nGen filament, SUNLU PETG and Gizmo Dorks PETG filament to print. Sklyar designed the whole thing from scratch, and the columns are joined by steel plates secured by bolts and in-printed nuts.

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Evonik and Evolve Additive Solutions partner to develop new materials for STEP 3D printing

Evonik, a leading German chemical company, has announced a partnership with Evolve Additive Solutions to advance the range of thermoplastic materials for Evolve’s Selective Thermoplastic Electrophotographic Process (STEP) technology. “STEP has been developed for volume manufacturing so offering the widest range of thermoplastic materials to our customers is a critical element for production,” stated Steve […]

Evonik: 3D Printing Machinery Needs to Catch Up with Materials

Evonik Industries is the largest specialty chemical company in the world, and it has not been afraid to involve itself with 3D printing, working with HP on the development of high performance 3D printing materials. The company is also a long term supplier of polyamide powder for laser sintering. The PA 12 polyamide powders (PA2200) used by both EOS and 3D Systems both came from Evonik. Recently, the company developed a PEBA powder for laser sintering, high speed sintering and binder jetting. The flexible material will allow manufacturers to create soft structures like damping elements, tubes, hoses and sealants, according to Sylvia Monsheimer, Evonik’s Head of New 3D Technologies. Evonik is poised to deliver more high-performance materials, too – but first, Monsheimer said, 3D printing machinery needs to catch up in terms of production capability.

Sylvia Monsheimer

“For the technology to really take off, machine availability is crucial – and here I am talking about machines capable of production,” Monsheimer said. “Evonik is prepared to supply material after 3D printing takes off.”

You may think “but hasn’t 3D printing already taken off?” It has, but in terms of becoming a production technology rather than a prototyping one, it’s still working to get over the hump, although it has made progress. The materials are there, but it’s a matter of more quickly developing more machinery that can print with these materials. Monsheimer claims that this is the biggest obstacle to 3D printing at the moment.

“The target [for machinery] is changing from quick to reliable and economical,” she said. “The 3D printing process itself has to be incorporated in the production chain; it cannot be a standalone situation. All of the requirements for a safe and sustainable production chain have to be met.”

She does think, however, that 3D printing is in the process of making the shift toward becoming a true production technology, and Evonik is ready to become a major supplier for manufacturers once they can position themselves for production.

“Beyond fulfilling technical needs, it also make sense for us to offer scale-up skills, quality assurance, and reliability,” Monsheimer said. “The additive manufacturing business at Evonik belongs to one of the group’s four growth engines, as well as to one of six innovation growth fields within the specialty chemicals company. Evonik’s executive board is committed to developing our PA [polyamide] 12 activities further.”

Earlier this year, Evonik opened a new production line for specialty PA powders at its site at the Marl Chemical Park in Germany, increasing the company’s annual capacities for PA 12 powders by 50 percent. It also opened a research hub for resource efficiency topics in Singapore, expanding its research into topics such as additive manufacturing and functional surfaces. Evonik is certainly not taking a negative attitude toward 3D printing – if anything, the company is feeling highly positive about the technology, simply wanting to see it accelerate a bit faster. And it’s doing its part to help 3D printing to accelerate, continuing to work with customers to develop new materials that will open up advanced applications.

“Designers are about to explore structures that would not have been possible before,” said Monsheimer. “Material characteristics are not the only route to achieving the properties needed for an application – the macroscopic structure can get us there too.”

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[Source: ICIS]

Evonik Develops PEBA Powder for Polymer 3D Printing

It can be overwhelming to consider the number of materials there are available for 3D printing, and new ones are constantly being developed. It’s not an easy or simple process to create a new 3D printing material, though, which is why materials that are prevalent elsewhere in manufacturing sometimes take some time to arrive in the 3D printing industry. Polyether block amide, or PEBA, is one of those materials. The flexible thermoplastic elastomer has numerous and varied manufacturing applications, but has rarely been seen in 3D printing. However, Evonik has now announced the development of a new PEBA powder for laser sintering, high speed sintering and binder jetting.

PEBA’s benefits include excellent mechanical and dynamic properties, including flexibility, impact resistance, energy return, and fatigue resistance. It is resistant to many chemicals and maintains its properties over a wide range of temperatures. It is used frequently for athletic shoe outsoles, in medical products such as catheters, and in electronics for products such as cable and wire coatings. PEBA can also be used to make textiles.

3D printed products made from Evonik’s new PEBA powder offer flexibility, chemical resistance and durability over a range of temperatures from -40°C to 90ºC. The powder is well-suited to the manufacture of functional high tech plastic parts, including both prototypes and series production components.

“Flexible polymer materials significantly expand the options for additive manufacturing because they allow us to realize new, demanding applications in attractive markets,” said Fabian Stoever, Senior Product Manager for Polymers at EOS. “In addition, the variety of materials not only enables us to produce individual high-tech functional components, but also to develop much more sophisticated 3D concepts that make use of the entire material range.”

The new PEBA powder was optimized for use in EOS laser sintering systems as part of a development collaboration between EOS and Evonik. It has already been successfully adopted into the material portfolios of several 3D printing service providers. EOS markets the powder under the name “PrimePart ST.”

“New innovative products that are developed in bespoke projects in close cooperation with our customers form an important cornerstone of our organic growth,” said Thomas Große-Puppendahl, Head of the Engineered Products Product Line at Evonik.

Evonik has been producing polymer powders for 3D printing for a while, and the development of PEBA further expands its materials porftolio. The company is a world leader in the production of polyamide 12 (PA 12) powders, which have been used in 3D printing for more than two decades. With help from EOS, Evonik will now introduce PEBA to the 3D printing world, opening up the door to a variety of new applications.

If you’d like to learn more about PEBA and other high performance 3D printing materials from Evonik in person, the company will be at Booth #4117 at the plastics processing trade fair Fakuma, which is taking place from October 16th to 20th in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

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