Stratasys introduces unfilled nylon for 3D printing

Stratasys unveiled Wednesday nylon material specifically engineered for its line of Fortus 3D production systems. The company also rolled out the Xtend 184 double-capacity canisters for ABS-M30, Polycarbonate, and UltemTM 9085.

Stratasys believes that with FDM Nylon 12, its Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) technology creates tougher, more flexible unfilled nylon parts than from other additive manufacturing technologies. FDM Nylon 12 offers up to five times greater resistance to breaking and better impact strength compared to even the strongest FDM materials.

The new material's elongation-at-break specification surpasses that of other 3D printed nylon 12 material by up to 100 per cent based on published specifications. This can create new opportunities for manufacturers in aerospace, automotive, home appliance and consumer electronics to easily create durable parts that can withstand high vibration, repetitive stress or fatigue. Examples include end-use parts, like interior panels, covers, environmental control ducting and vibration-resistant components, as well as tools, manufacturing aids, and jigs and fixtures used in the manufacturing process.

Figure 1: (L-R) Flexible bender bar, 3D-printed phone case and two-part auto clip created with FDM Nylon 12 material.

FDM Nylon 12 is available for the Fortus 360, 400 and 900 systems. FDM Nylon 12 is initially offered in black, and is paired with SR110, a new soluble support material optimised for FDM Nylon 12. Support removal requires virtually no labour and is conveniently washed away in the same cleaning agent as other FDM soluble supports.

Stratasys also rolled out its Xtend 184 high capacity material canisters for three Fortus materials: ABS-M30, Polycarbonate, and UltemTM 9085. The canisters have twice the material capacity in the same size container as its contemporaries and offer reduced downtime for canister swapping by enabling up to 100 hours of unattended run-time, which allows weekend builds for extra-large parts.