ROCK HILL, South Carolina--3D Systems Corporation, a leading provider of 3-D modeling, rapid prototyping and manufacturing solutions, has announced the introduction of DuraForm EX Black Plastic.
The product is a new rapid manufacturing material for its Sinterstation Pro SLS Rapid Manufacturing systems.
DuraForm EX Black Plastic is an easy-to-process, durable material that offers the toughness of injection-molded polypropylene and ABS and is ideal for a variety of Rapid Manufacturing applications.
Offering users the opportunity of directly producing black-colored parts, this material provides users with more flexibility in design, while reducing secondary operations needed when painting a part. DuraForm EX Black Plastic is non-sloughing, eliminating unintended color transfer rub-off to other surfaces.
DuraForm EX Black plastic parts built on a Sinterstation Pro SLS System overcome a traditional limitation of Additive Layer Manufacturing. The parts remain tough and exhibit very consistent mechanical properties regardless of orientation, including the "Z" direction.
DuraForm EX Black Plastic retains its toughness at -65 degrees Fahrenheit, or -54 degrees Celsius, a critical functional requirement for many aerospace and automotive applications.
Its toughness and cold temperature performance are among the advantages to TS TECH Co., a Japanese automotive interiors supplier, who recently purchased a Sinterstation Pro SLS System to produce parts with DuraForm EX Black Plastic.
During a recent presentation at the 3D Systems World Conference, Takashi Takahara talked about the reasons why TS TECH Co. chose 3D Systems' SLS technology.
With the addition of DuraForm EX Black Plastic, 3D Systems now has three commercially available Rapid Manufacturing materials for use in its Sinterstation Pro SLS System, a rapid manufacturing system that delivers large parts with outstanding feature definition, surface quality and accuracy.
"We are pleased to expand further the range of our engineered plastic materials for Sinterstation Pro Systems," noted Abe Reichental, 3D Systems' president and chief executive officer. "Our customers have been asking us for injection-molding performance for a long time. The combination of DuraForm EX Black Plastic and the Sinterstation Pro manufacturing system delivers on that requirement."
