The 3D Printing Industry has metals and materials as two hot topics. The global chemical company BASF is addressing both with a new series of 3D printing materials announced at the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) Conference in St Louis.

In partnership with Essentium Materials, BASF’s dedicated 3D Printing Solutions business is building up a global distribution network for plastic fused filament fabrication (FFF) materials and pooling a substantial part of its industrial filaments under the name Ultrafuse. One of those materials is Ultrafuse 316LX stainless steel composite filament which allows users to 3D print metal parts on any open FFF machine. An interview at AMUG, Felix Hapke, Marketing Manager for metal and ceramics at BASF detailed the material’s benefits comparing with powder-based processes:

High metal content;

Predictable shrinkage values between 14-17%;

Safety;

Cost advantages; 

BASF says users will be able to print 100% metal parts via an industrial-standard debinding and sintering process.

“We want to offer our customers all over the world high-quality, high-performance materials for fused filament fabrication printing technology,”

 Firat Hizal, Marketing & Sales Manager Plastic Filaments at BASF 3D Printing Solutions.

The distribution agreement covers several products including Ultrafuse Z, a special, extra strong filament based on BASF materials, further developed by Essentium, and offered in combination with Essentium Materials’ processing technology, FlashFuse.

“This enables us to provide a special material for FFF that allows printing components with optimum strength in the z-direction,”

-Firat Hizal-

Photo: Sample parts printed with Ultrafuse 316LX filament.

Both companies plan to launch additional filled and flame-retardant filaments over the coming year. BASF has also announced Ultrasint PA6 LM X085, a new material for use in selective laser sintering (SLS) processes. This grey polyamide-6-based powder melts at about 193 degrees Celsius and is easy to process on most commonly used SLS machines.

The new components are distinguished by high stiffness and strength. “The first parts produced with new Ultrasint PA6 LM are convincing, so we expect to be able to supply our first customers with our powder material in late summer,” argues Alexander Cochrane.

BASF is also investing in the field of UV-reactive materials such as its recent Photo-Resin X004M, which has been specially optimised for stereolithography (SLA), digital light processing (DLP) and LCD printers. Further developments include UV-reactive ceramic photopolymers for metal-casting moulds in aerospace and automotive applications.