The Fuse 1 material catalog is growing, so engineers and fabricators will be able to create new, industrial-grade products. Formlabs introduces Nylon 12 GF Powder, a glass-reinforced plastic powder that is ideal for producing rigid, thermally stable parts with the SLS Fuse 1 printer. Nylon 12 GF Powder is the third material designed specifically for the Fuse 1 & Sift ecosystem. , which provides Formlabs customers with options to affordably expand their on-site production. The new material joins Nylon 12 Powder and Nylon 11 Powder in the Formlabs SLS material portfolio, allowing customers to diversify their operations and expand production with a wide variety of material properties.
This new material combines the utility of Nylon 12 Powder with the stiffness and heat resistance of the glass it contains, making it the best choice for any application that requires long-term load-carrying capacity and high thermal resistance. . Fuse 1 users can now add Nylon 12 GF Powder to their portfolio if they need rigid functional prototypes, strong guides and fixtures, replacement parts and threaded parts.
Nylon 12 GF Powder Applications
In the automotive industry, stands are made to hold heavy model car bodies at a certain angle during the painting process or while other components are being added. If the type of car model changes, it is often necessary to change the brackets, so there is always a demand for custom-made brackets in small volumes, but they are expensive and slow to manufacture. Since many car parts are made of metal, the assembly process involves a large number of welds, so all the elements that support manufacturing are subjected to high temperatures. Printing end-use supports and grips with Nylon 12 GF Powder is the low cost, fast and least waste solution.
Nylon 12 GF Powder’s tensile modulus makes it a good choice for electronic component housings and frames that must be rigid and able to be mounted to other surfaces. For a company like Kuhmute, which designs and manufactures charging stations for electronic transportation vehicles (electric scooters, mopeds and skateboards), being able to directly manufacture mountable battery charging cases gives you more design freedom. Since Nylon 12 GF Powder can be used for mountable parts, it is possible to create the entire case from one material, without worrying about adding a mounting bracket made from another material or with a different geometry.
Manufacturing parts, especially in the design and jewelry industries, can require special fixtures and fixtures to hold parts in place during work, which often takes place in high-temperature environments. These fixings are usually machined from wood or metal and are expensive and time consuming to create. Therefore, custom or one-of-a-kind parts are incredibly expensive for manufacturers. Producing thermally stable custom fasteners in-house allows manufacturers and designers to streamline their processes, increase efficiency and improve part quality.
Versatile high-performance materials
All materials created for the Fuse 1 system are designed to help engineers and product designers solve specific problems. Let’s compare Nylon 12 GF Powder to the other materials in the Fuse 1 ecosystem.
The tensile modulus of Nylon 12 GF Powder is more than 50% higher than Nylon 12 Powder and nearly 75% higher than Nylon 11 Powder. Customers should choose Nylon 12 GF Powder for printing parts that need to withstand heavy loads for a long time without bending or elongating. Rigid and static supports, mounts, housings, guides and fixings are types of products that can benefit from the rigid mechanical properties of this new powder. In addition, Nylon 12 GF Powder withstands high temperatures, with a bending temperature under load at 1 .8MPa at 113°C. Many materials can warp when exposed to high temperatures and lose their dimensional accuracy, especially when the heat is combined with a load-bearing application. Nylon 12 GF Powder has the thermal stability to withstand many applications where other SLS powders would show signs of elongation and distortion.
Inexpensive renewal rate and simplified change of materials
The renewal rate is the recommended percentage of new powder to mix with recycled powder in order to print successfully and have greater efficiency. The renewal rate of Nylon 12 GF Powder is 30-50% and can be adjusted to minimize material waste, optimize cost per part or improve part finish. Post-finishing, metering and mixing of new cartridges are processes handled by the Fuse Sift. Users can manually change the turnover rate on the Fuse Sift’s touch screen, making post-finishing and powder recovery easy for any team member.
By switching between Nylon 12 GF Powder and Nylon 12 Powder, cleanup time for the Fuse 1 and Fuse Sift is greatly reduced, requiring only two hours of setup and cleanup to start a new print. Compared to the day-long process required by most industrial SLS systems, the streamlined material changeover process reduces downtime and enables more on-site production with multiple materials and a single printer. The Fuse 1 uses patented Surface Armor technology, which creates a semi-sintered shell around the part that improves surface quality and ensures a smooth surface finish. When using Nylon 12 GF Powder, this semi-sintered shell requires a dedusting process in the Fuse Sift and a post-finishing sandblasting step. Desktop or benchtop sandblasting machines can be purchased for as low as €150 and are a valuable addition to any process working with SLS materials.
Increase production flexibility with Nylon 12 GF Powder
Historically, high-performance 3D printing materials like glass-particle powders have been out of reach for most small and medium-sized businesses. Industrial-grade composite parts have only ever been available on machines costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. With Fuse 1 and the expanded catalog of materials for SLS, it’s easier than ever to design, iterate, and manufacture a product.
With the addition of Nylon 12 GF Powder, Formlabs’ portfolio of SLS materials gives users the ability to take greater control over their production and expand the scope of their manufacturing capabilities. With the higher tensile modulus and flexural temperature under load offered by the new glass particle material, more and more industrial applications have become accessible to Fuse 1 users.