Stratasys' partners develop new materials for Fortus 450mc

In the week that Stratasys delivered the 35,000 industrial FDM printers, the arrival of the first validated third-party materials was announced. Covestro, Kimya and Victrex plc have validated the first thermoplastic materials for the Stratasys FDM printers. 

Stratasys CEO Yoav Zeif announced the installation of the 35,000th industrial FDM printer himself during the press conference in which both new hardware and materials were presented. According to Yaov Zeif, Stratasys therefore has the largest installed base when it comes to FDM printers, such as the successful F123 series or the Fortus series. And these 3D printers are increasingly used for the production of end parts in a wide variety of applications.

New filaments

This number of applications will undoubtedly increase further with the new materials that major material manufacturers develop. At the end of 2021, Stratasys announced a new materials strategy. In addition to our own materials and the open license, which allows the user to use filaments from any manufacturer, there is a third category, the validated materials. These are third-party filaments that have been tested and validated together with Stratasys on the FDM printers. When you print with it, you will immediately get good results with the settings. Well, the first materials in this group have now been validated for the Fortus 450mc platform.

This concerns the following materials:

• High-performance polymers: Arkema/Kimya PEKK-SC, a semicrystalline PEKK thermoplastic polymer based on KEPSTAN® from Arkema; and VICTREX AM™ 200, a semicrystalline LMPAEK™ thermoplastic filament that is compatible with soluble support material.
• Reinforced and special polymers: Covestro PA6/66 GF20 FR, a flame-resistant, glass fiber composite material.
• Technical polymers: Kimya PC FR, a flame-resistant polycarbonate material.
• Standard quality polymer: HIPS high impact polystyrene

Step towards production of final parts

Why is Stratasys taking this step, after years of only allowing its own materials? “We believe these additional materials will expand applications in polymer additive manufacturing, helping customers move from functional prototypes to production parts,” said Adam Pawloski, VP Manufacturing Solutions at Stratasys. The new materials for the Fortus 450mc will be available at the end of this year. Stratasys is now working with other manufacturers on even more filaments.

Open Content License for Origin One

The open material license will also be available for the Origin One platform, the DLP printer. To this end, we collaborate with Covestro, Evonik, Arkema, Forward AM, Liqcreate and polySpectra, among others.

Curious about the possibilities of the Stratasys 3D printers with the new materials? Our sales advisors are happy to show you the possibilities.