- Company is first in additive manufacturing (AM) industry to conduct and provide comprehensive, consistent materials test data - enabling engineers to efficiently, effectively evaluate AM production materials for their applications
"Until this point, materials testing data provided by the industry has been incomplete for production applications and of little value to engineers accustomed to data that accompanies injection molded plastics," said
Arming manufacturers with a complete data set to properly screen a material's appropriateness for their application enables them to immediately proceed to longer term application testing such as life testing of parts/components or higher biocompatibility ratings. As an example, electrical life testing can take anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 hours (approximately three - 12 months) to complete including time on the testing equipment, operator time, and time to market. Before a company makes such a significant investment, they want to have assurance that the selected material is appropriate for the application. Having the knowledge of a material's dielectric properties per industry standards beforehand saves engineers needing to conduct several rounds of testing - at approximately two weeks per material - to find a candidate to pass initial dielectric properties before going into long term life testing.
3D Systems has completed testing for its newest Figure 4 materials designed for production applications: Figure 4 PRO-BLK 10, Figure 4 EGGSHELL-AMB 10, Figure 4 HI TEMP 300-AMB, Figure 4 FLEX-BLK 20, Figure 4 RUBBER-BLK 10, Figure 4 TOUGH-BLK 20, Figure 4 MED-AMB 10, and Figure 4 MED-WHT 10. The company has tested against an extensive set of properties which includes: long-term environmental stability, electrical data, UL94 flammability, biocompatibility, ISO mechanical properties, isotropic mechanical property tolerances, and compatibility with automotive fluids and chemical reagents. Test data for all materials will be made available
These materials have unique and compelling properties that represent significant improvements in first-time print yield, heat deflection, UV stability, durability, flexibility and impact strength, while also enabling new biocompatible and direct digital production workflows. These breakthrough materials complement the company's entire portfolio, which when combined with 3D Systems' 3D printing technology, software and services enabled its customers to create nearly 200 million production parts in 2019 alone.
3D Systems'
- "Software as an Enabler for Optimized Manufacturing Workflows" -
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- "AM Production of Large Scale, High Precision Investment Casting Patterns for Metal Parts",
Additionally,
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements made in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from historical results or from any future results or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In many cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as "believes," "belief," "expects," "may," "will," "estimates," "intends," "anticipates" or "plans" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are based upon management's beliefs, assumptions, and current expectations and may include comments as to the company's beliefs and expectations as to future events and trends affecting its business and are necessarily subject to uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the company. The factors described under the headings "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the company's periodic filings with the
About 3D Systems
More than 30 years ago, 3D Systems brought the innovation of 3D printing to the manufacturing industry. Today, as the leading digital manufacturing solutions company, it empowers manufacturers to create products and business models never before possible through transformed workflows. This is achieved with the Company's best-of-breed digital manufacturing ecosystem - comprised of plastic and metal 3D printers, print materials, on-demand manufacturing services and a portfolio of end-to-end manufacturing software. Each solution is powered by the expertise of the company's application engineers who collaborate with customers to transform manufacturing environments. 3D Systems' solutions address a variety of advanced applications for prototyping through production in markets such as aerospace, automotive, medical, dental and consumer goods. More information on the company is available at www.3dsystems.com.
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