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Sabic thermoplastic available for FDM machines

A Laser Lines (Industrial and Medical) product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Feb 9, 2009

Stratasys has announced that it will offer Sabic's Ultem 9085, a high-performance thermoplastic for direct digital manufacturing and rapid prototyping.

Ultem 9085 is a strong, light-weight, flame-retardant thermoplastic widely used in aircraft interiors.

The material has a V-O rating for flame, smoke and toxicity (FST).

Its availability for the FDM additive fabrication process will allow direct digital manufacturing and rapid prototyping with this material for the first time.

As Ultem 9085 is certified for use on commercial aircrafts, manufacturers can bypass a lengthy certification process.

The material will be available for two additive fabrication machines - the FDM 900mc and FDM 400mc - from Stratasys.

Ultem 9085 was originally developed to help the aerospace industry boost fuel efficiency and safety.

It offers strength and flexibility while producing five to 15 per cent lighter interior parts than other aerospace plastics.

'More and more manufacturers are discovering direct digital manufacturing,' said vice president of direct digital manufacturing at Stratasys, Jeff DeGrange.

Direct digital manufacturing or DDM is the process of manufacturing parts directly from CAD data using additive fabrication.

DDM brings great efficiencies for low-volume manufacturing and the ability to build spare parts on demand.

'Having Ultem 9085 available for the FDM process will allow aerospace manufacturers to adopt direct digital manufacturing on a larger scale,' added DeGrange.

'It allows manufacturers to integrate part designs, which can significantly reduce part lead times.

Ultem 9085 is heat resistant up to 320F (160C) and is inherently flame retardant, offering full FST compliance including OSU heat release of less than 55/55, or 55kW min/m2 for heat release and 55kW/m2 for peak heat release.

Besides the aerospace industry, Stratasys anticipates that the availability of Ultem 9085 for FDM prototyping and production can benefit various industries, including the marine-product and automotive industries.

Find out more about this article. Request a brochure, download technical specifications and request samples here.

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