On October 28, 2020, SLA 3D printer manufacturer Formlabs released two new 3D printing materials: Rigid 10K resin and an upgraded version of Draft resin.
Rigid 10K is the hardest material in the Formlab product series, mainly used to meet customer requirements for high temperature and chemical resistance materials. At the same time, the reformulated Draft resin allows users to print four times faster than other existing resins.
Max Lobovsky, CEO and co-founder of Formlabs said: "One of the biggest advantages of stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing is the wide range of printing materials. Our customers not only need parts with the correct geometry, they also need the right Material properties. Through our resin material library, users can manufacture anything, from surgical tools to jigs and fixtures."
Formlabs current products
Since its establishment in 2011, Formlabs currently has more than 200 global sales partners and has shipped more than 70,000 systems to customers worldwide. Known for its SLA 3D printers and proprietary resins, this company became the "unicorn" of the industry in August 2018, when the company was valued at more than $1 billion.
Formlabs launched the first "Form" series in 2012, followed by Form One Plus, Form 2 and Form 3L 3D printers.
This year, Formlabs released six new resins for its Form 3, Form 3B and Form 2 printers, bringing the total number of proprietary materials to more than 25. A few months ago, Formlabs and BEGO, an expert in dental materials, reached a partnership to promote the 3D printing of temporary and permanent dental restorations.
Recently, Formlabs released the latest iteration of the SLA-based desktop system-the large-size Form 3L, and cooperated with major customers to optimize the application of printers in the footwear, industrial and medical industries.
Advantages of Rigid 10K
Formlabs`s new Rigid 10K resin is characterized by its stiffness that mimics the stiffness of glass or fiber-filled thermoplastics. It has the characteristics of high temperature resistance, chemical corrosion resistance and high pressure resistance, so it is suitable for manufacturing precision industrial parts that need to withstand huge loads.
The printed parts of Rigid 10K have a smooth surface effect and are ideal for applications such as short-range injection molds and inserts, aerodynamic test models, heat-resistant parts, fixtures, etc.
Engineering and consulting company Novus Applications has used Rigid 10K to produce short-term injection molds and cores, and said that this resin reduces costs and shortens manufacturing time. Mark Bartlett, President and founder of Novus, introduced that molds made with Rigids 10K can withstand clamping and injection pressure without breaking, and successfully maintain their shape under these pressures.
Improved Draft resin
Formlabs' new Draft resin is ideal for initial prototypes, rapid iterations, and on-site 3D printing demonstrations, because this material has advantages in printing, support removal, cleaning, and curing time. Draft Resin was designed with the dental and orthodontic fields in mind, and can print out the orthodontic model within 20 minutes.
Draft Resin can produce more than 95 dental models per day on the Form 3BL 3D printer, and can print 8 models within 1.5 hours. Compared with Formlabs Grey resin, when printing the same number of models, the time is A significant improvement.
This material can provide immediate services for chairside treatment in orthodontics and dental clinics, from setting up to processing the model in just a few minutes.