All About High-Performance Materials for 3D Printing

Introduction

Ultrasint® TPU 88A & Ultrasint® TPU 01

What are the characteristics of these materials?

TPU 88A for SLS technologies and TPU01 for Jet-Fusion are elastomers, hence they present a good elasticity. Look-wise, the former is white while the other is grey. To get an idea of their flexibility, they can withstand an elongation at break of 270 %. These good mechanical properties provide them with good shock absorption and bounce capabilities. It also has a good surface quality, which can be fine-tuned with finishings. Both materials can indeed undergo chemical smoothing, which provides them with a perfectly sleek, bright look. Taking into account that this is a powder material, this material can then be provided with an outstanding surface finish, translucent for TPU 88A, and black for TPU 01.

What are the applications and advantages of these materials?

The shock absorption and flexibility of TPU make it a good match for sports equipment manufacturing, like insoles, for instance. Orthopaedic models can also be made out of this material. Used along with 3D Printing, this material can be employed to produce parts designed with lattice structures, allowing to vary the mechanical properties of the parts, hence for more flexibility, for example. TPU also displays great potential for gripping members such as grippers, but also for flexible pipes.

Why is that interesting to 3D print these materials?

On-demand manufacturing

3D printing can be scaled to the user’s production, it allows to switch from prototyping to production easily, irrespectively of the number of parts. Turnaround times are also fast, and the lead-time between ideation and getting the part is also beneficial, in comparison with other manufacturing techniques or with mold set-ups.

Design for Additive Manufacturing: The advantages

Used along with 3D printing, one can shape these high-performance materials with complex geometries. The design freedom of this technology allows to make lattices, topological optimisations, hollowed shapes, parts without assemblies or that fit right into available areas in technical systems. In turns, these design advantages can translate into better performing, more cost-effective parts, which take less time to be assembled. If we get back to our TPU example, 3D printing helps design parts with varying flexibility, depending on the different zones. This potential allows for lighter parts that can be integrated into environments where this criterion is at stake, like in Aeronautics.

What about the costs?

From an economic standpoint, these high-performance materials take on their full significance when parts are well-conceived for Additive Manufacturing. By optimising them well, gains can be achieved thanks to the complexity of the parts, by the decrease in the number of components and assembly time. These high-performance materials, unlike others that we had seen before, function with powder technologies based on a batch logic. With this logic, one can project oneself into series production scenarios, in which the price is affordable.

Ready to get your own production project started with these materials? Upload your 3D file onto our online 3D printing platform and discover the price of your parts instantly. Do not hesitate to get in touch with our sales team for any demand or advice on your project.