The Ultimaker Material Alliance: Pushing boundaries at K 2019

“The high number of visitors at K 2019 is a good reflection of the immense scale of the material industry,” Paul Heiden, Senior Vice President Product Management at Ultimaker, said. “It is great to see that additive manufacturing is so high on the agendas of many of these leading material companies.”

Through the Ultimaker Material Alliance, the doors are opening for a vast range of materials, which is rapidly growing, pushing the boundaries of the 3D printing industry. Read on for a rundown of the Ultimaker Material Alliance at K 2019. 

What's new for 3D printing materials?

• Lehvoss Group demonstrated its LUVOCOM® 3F filaments on the Ultimaker S5 Pro Bundle. These filaments are suitable for high-performance industrial applications, and are available in four different materials. They are based on PAHT® and PET – two of which are carbon-fiber reinforced. The materials are highly processable – even in an unheated installation space –distortion-free, and durable 

• Arkema shared advanced materials and solutions for strong added performance in durability, sustainability, design, program optimization and reinforcement. Arkema showcased shoe inserts and athletic midsoles printed on the Ultimaker S5 with Pebax material; automotive parts printed with Kynar material; and consumer goods parts  

 Adrien Lapeyre, Arkema's Technical Polymers Global 3D Printing Market Manager, said:

For Arkema, K 2019 was a celebration of ‘durability and sustainability’. Indeed, our portfolio of FFF 3D solutions fits well within this theme. The final parts, printed by Ultimaker using filaments from our partners drew lots of attention from end users wishing to explore applications related to our flagship Pebax® elastomers, and our Kynar® PVDF extreme performance materials. Our motto is ‘An extreme world needs extreme materials’, and we clearly see a bright future in our collaborative journey with Ultimaker and our filament partners.

• DSM Additive Manufacturing used its Novamid® ID 1030-CF10 to print spare parts for a Ducati motorbike on an Ultimaker S5, showcasing how 3D printing offers an alternative production means for spare parts in the automotive industry 

• Clariant shared its vision of a circular economy, waste reduction, and plastic recycling. Clariant currently offers eight materials in the Ultimaker Marketplace, including glass or carbon-fiber reinforced PA6/66, PETG, and ESD-safe materials 

• Igus GmbH presented its Iglidur material, which is available in two different compositions. Both are extremely wear-resistant and offer full lifetime durability. The material’s applications vary from prototypes and very small quantities to small series and serial production 
   

Niklas Eutebach, Development Engineer Additive Manufacturing for Igus GmbH, said:

We think that 3D printing has caught traction in a wide field of industries. This is reflected by the lots and lots of different applications and solutions that we provide to our customers every day. We’ll continue to broaden our portfolio of materials by listening to our customer’s demands, adding filaments to enable more and more difficult use cases.

• BASF 3D Printing Solutions featured the Ultimaker S5 in its additive manufacturing section. During the BASF Live Talk, Paul Heiden highlighted how the Alliance enabled new industrial applications with FFF 3D Printing 

• Huntsman, the latest member of the Ultimaker Marketplace, displayed its IROPRINT F 80213 filament, a soft thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) with a Shore A hardness of A85. Soft TPU filaments are typically not easy to print, but IROPRINT F 80213 delivers less friction in the filament guiding tubes, resulting in reliable prints for the footwear sector and other applications that require soft, flexible, and durable properties  

Unlock new applications 

Ready to explore new applications with 3D printing? Download the latest version of Ultimaker Cura for free and discover the print profiles available on the Ultimaker Marketplace.