As a thermoplastic polymer, polypropylene (PP) is widely used due to its excellent mechanical, thermal and chemical properties, and is the second most commonly used polymer in the world.
3D printing polypropylene materials have long been used for material extrusion 3D printing process wire is more common. In recent years, chemical materials companies have gradually introduced polypropylene materials for industrial-grade plastic 3D printing technology, through additive manufacturing technology to provide manufacturers in the fields of automobiles, medical, infrastructure and other fields with small batch production, bridge manufacturing solutions, or Realize more complex polypropylene part design.
Under this trend, the types of polypropylene 3D printing materials are further enriched, covering industrial-grade additive manufacturing technologies such as laser sintering, high-speed sintering, and multi-jet melting. Recently, the chemical materials company DSM (DSM) has launched polypropylene 3D printing granular materials for the fused particle manufacturing (FGF) 3D printing process, once again enriching the polypropylene 3D printing material family.
Wider industrial applications
The polypropylene material introduced by DSM is a glass fiber-filled polypropylene material-Arnilene AM6001 GF (G), which is used in fused particle manufacturing (FGF) 3D printing technology.
The (G) in AM6001 GF(G) stands for particles. This material is the same matrix material as the polypropylene material used in high-throughput production. DSM works with equipment partners to verify materials on closed and open cavity printers to optimize FGF printing materials.
DSM combines material expertise, modeling and simulation, and design and manufacturing expertise for additive manufacturing to achieve ideal mechanical, thermal and chemical properties of glass fiber-filled polypropylene materials.
Arnilene AM6001 GF (G) application areas:
• Low temperature molds • Applications that require continuous use at temperatures up to 130°C • Structures, rigid or solid parts • Applications in marine water environments • Lightweight design and parts that require impact resistance to replace metals • Automotive applications • Infrastructure and water management Main advantages:
•Mechanical properties•Temperature capability: 135°C high heat distortion temperature•Chemical resistance•Printability: Easy to process on a variety of FGF melted particles manufacturing 3D printers•Post-processing: easy to process and mill 3D Science Valley Review
As Geoff Gardner, Director of Additive Manufacturing Innovation at DSM, said, the availability of 3D printing for engineering plastics is the next step in the plastic polymer additive manufacturing revolution. Polypropylene is a semi-crystalline engineering plastic, combined with the advantages of additive manufacturing in the absence of molds and easy realization of complex designs, polypropylene 3D printing will bring relatively low-cost additive manufacturing solutions to the industry.
The application potential of polypropylene 3D printing.
MJF 3D printing polypropylene
The polypropylene material that HP launched to the market in 2020 is a relatively low-cost multi-jet fusion (MJF) 3D printing material family. It produces functional parts printed with MJF technology at a lower cost, which will activate many previous price factors. Restricted and unrealizable applications help industrial users achieve a balance in cost, design, performance, and productivity, and find the right price and material. HP's market launch of 3D printing PP materials will bring more abundant 3D printing scale production applications to the industrial field.
HP spent a lot of energy in the early stage to study the compatibility of Multi Jet Fusion technology with PP materials, and finally solved the problem of its special flat molding performance and the difficulty of connecting and matching with engineering plastic parts. With the help of BASF, the PP material adapted to HP's 3D printing technology was officially launched and will be widely used in automotive, consumer products, industrial and medical applications.
HP 3D Printing summarizes the characteristics of PP 3D printing materials as follows:
• Breakthrough economics: Compared with the most commonly used material for HP 3D printing, PA12, the cost of polypropylene is relatively lower, and can save up to 30%. • Excellent mechanical properties: PP material is suitable for HP Jet Fusion 5200 series 3D printing solutions, which can provide high productivity and minimize industrial-grade manufacturing waste. • Reusability: PP material can recover 100% of the remaining powder, further improving the utilization rate of the material. •Excellent chemical resistance, low moisture absorption and long-term durability: It is the applications that require long-term low water absorption such as pipes, fluid conveying systems, air-conditioning systems, and containers. PP material 3D printed parts can also be used for requirements after corresponding post-processing Applications that do not absorb water at all. HSS 3D printing polypropylene
voxeljet-Voxel has launched a polypropylene material for high-speed sintering (HSS) 3D printing technology. The material does not suffer from stress cracking problems, and has excellent electrical and chemical resistance at higher temperatures. PP materials are widely used in the manufacture of plastic parts. For example, PP materials are used in the manufacture of automobile bumpers and exterior parts. The PP materials developed for such applications have low linear thermal expansion coefficient and specific gravity, and are processable. And impact/stiffness balance.
The application areas of HSS 3D printing polypropylene include:
•Automotive•Electrical/Electronics•Industrial Applications•Consumer Products•Household Products