A world leader in high performance polymers, Arkema offers a diverse range of materials for the manufacture of prototypes and functional technical short runs, using the laser sintering technology, the 3D printing/UV curing process, or molding for high-tech parts. Arkema will showcase its product range at the 20th edition of EuroMold, held in Frankfurt from November 25th to 27th. This is the opportunity for Arkema to position for the first time on medical applications, with its fine powders for laser sintering.
From aerospace to electronics and automotive, but also today in medical field, Arkema with its high performance polymers assists companies that increasingly use laser sintering or 3D printing – UV curing technologies. These technologies allow speed up design and market introduction of new products such as unique functional prototypes, complex designed parts, small series parts for commercial production, and now custom made medical devices(1). .
Arkema extends applications of its fine powders for laser sintering to the medical market
Laser sintering (LS) is an additive manufacturing technique that uses a laser beam to produce 3D parts by fusing together thermoplastic fine powders layer by layer. The properties of these fine powders make it the most suitable solution for the manufacturing of functional prototypes, parts with complex shapes as well as limited-run (rapid) manufacturing. Arkema offers a comprehensive range of fine powders for this technology:
- Orgasol® Invent Smooth, a polyamide 12 powder imparting unrivaled touch requiring no post-treatment to parts produced by LS, and allowing an unmatched recyclability rate in this process.
- Rilsan® Invent, a polyamide 11 fine powder, 100% sourced from a renewable raw material, specially developed for the LS process, and suitable for use on all types of LS machines. Rilsan® Invent ensures excellent resolution in the detail of the parts, combined with straightforward machine processing, and excellent mechanical properties. This powder is available in Natural color, and also in Black for the design of parts of an intense black.
For EuroMold 2014, Arkema announces the extension of Rilsan® Invent Natural applications to the medical market. Rilsan® Invent Natural medical grade is USP Class VI (United States Pharmacopeia) compliant. Its excellent mechanical properties make it the material of choice for dental and foot ortheses, dental models and surgical guides.
Acrylate resins from Sartomer formulated for a cutting-edge prototyping technology: 3D Printing – UV Curing
The 3D printing – UV curing process consists in printing and instantly drying through UV radiation successive layers of a liquid formulation made from acrylic resins, Sartomer, an Arkema subsidiary, is one of the world's leading producers of acrylic resins for UV curing, and offers new solvent-free solutions adapted to the cutting-edge technology of rapid prototyping or 3D printing - UV curing. In addition to offering great freedom of design, this acrylate resin 3D printing – UV curing technology produces top quality finish.
PEKK, polyether ketone ketone, a polymer that pushes back the boundaries of thermoplastics
PEKK is an ultra high performance polymer: it offers a number of properties that place it at the top of what is accessible among thermoplastics in terms of mechanical strength, temperature stability, flame retardancy, and chemical resistance in particular. It is also a unique product in the polyaryletherketone (PAEK) family through it great processing versatility. In fact it can be used in a very wide range of melt processes, from natural granules or granules with fillers, or powders: injection molding, extrusion of pipes, sheets, films, rods and plates, calendering and thermoforming, welding, coating, sintering, impregnation of fibers, composites.
Thanks to these characteristics, it significantly extends the scope of possibilities whenever the following specifications are required: metal substitution, weight reduction, mechanical performance, corrosion resistance, simpler design or manufacture of parts and sub-assemblies in high-tech sectors: aerospace, oil prospection and production, and industrial equipment and machinery.
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