TECHNOLOGY | 3D PRINT MATERIALS
Above: Covid-19 face shield parts in production on a Stratasys 3D print system
Materialise and Siemens. The company released the HP Jet Fusion 5200 Series solution around the same time that it said incorporates systems, data intelligence, software, services and materials. It can process an Ultrasint thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) grade, TPU01, developed by BASF and only available for use on the Jet Fusion 5200 Series and other HP Multi Jet Fusion printers (HP already offers thermoplastic powder materials including PA12 and PA11). BASF says Ultrasint TPU01 can be used for applications such as automotive parts, shoe soles, lattice design structures, shock absorption, tubes, wheels and ducts. US-based resin distributor M Holland signed 3D printing thermoplastic material distribution agreements with Owens Corning, 3DXTECH, and BASF in 2018, which it has followed with the addition of 3D printing capabilities at its R&D center in Pennsylvania and its headquarters in Illinois. M Holland’s 3D Printing Market Manager Haleyanne Freedman predicts that, as additive manufacturing design concepts become more common, use of the technology is certain to increase. The increasing affordability and quality of open-source 3D printers will be key drivers. “We expect open source machines and the broad range of materials they use to continue to drive change and transformation in the additive manufacturing market in 2020,” she says.
Tackling Covid-19 The Covid-19 pandemic, which was in its earliest days as this article was being researched, demon- strated the ability of AM technology to deliver on short leadtimes. As soon as reports began to emerge of healthcare systems anticipating — and experiencing — shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers the plastics industry responded and additive manufacturing, with its
36 COMPOUNDING WORLD | May 2020
ability to make a new product from digital instruc- tions, was one of the tools called on. AM facilities of all types, including university research labs, coalitions and collaborations, sprang into action. At the time of writing, Stratasys was leading a coalition of more than 150 organisations producing 3D-printed visors and clear plastic face shields for hospitals and other organisations. Stratasys and its partners turned out 5,000 shields in the first week of production, with the first hospital shipments received on March 25, 2020. The coalition was ramping to produce more than 11,000 masks in the second week and 16,000 in the third. Stratasys is also increasing its production of 3D printing materials for visors and face shields, and the company is offering free material licenses on many of its high-end printers used to make the visors during this time. The company also sup- ported the CoVent-19 Challenge led by anesthesi- ology residents of Massachusetts General Hospital, in the US, that aims to develop a rapidly deploy- able design that can be used globally, including low-resource areas. Other AM players are also playing their part in tackling Covid-19. HP and its partners have been validating and preparing designs for parts such as such as face masks, face shields, mask adjusters and hands-free door openers. These have been made available for download. And Carbon, which has developed the DLS [digital light sintering] technology for AM of thermosets, has designed a face shield and made the design and instructions open-source. It is also developing designs for a 3D-printed test swab.
CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: �
www.solvay.com �
www.polymaker.com �
www.covestro.com �
www.evonik.com �
www.3dcastor.com �
www.dsmep.com �
www.amtechnologies.com �
www.shapeways.com �
www.juggerbot3d.com �
https://emps.exeter.ac.uk/engineering/research/etg/ �
www.victrex.com �
www.arkema.com �
www.9tlabs.com �
www.ansys.com �
www.stratasys.com �
www.hp.com �
www.basf.com �
www.mholland.com �
www.carbon3d.com
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: STRATASYS
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