FRIEDBERG, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--voxeljet AG (NYSE: VJET) (the “Company”, or “voxeljet”), a leading provider of high-speed, large-format 3D printers and on-demand parts services to industrial and commercial customers, today announced the launch of a number of new speciality materials for its High Speed Sintering line of 3D printers.
Dr. Ingo Ederer, Chief Executive Officer of voxeljet, commented: “We are really excited about the speed we see in the qualification of new materials for our High Speed Sintering process. In less than nine months we were able to qualify various grades of Polyamide powders and are successfully printing several types of Thermoplastic Polyurethane. We are also working on some very customer specific materials including Polypropylene – which is one of the most widely used plastic materials in the world. Polypropylene features extremely interesting properties and addresses a broader set of applications. We are successfully printing PP on our smaller VX200 HSS systems and do expect a smooth transition to our larger and automated production system VJET XHSS, which we anticipate making commercially available at the end of 2019.”
R&D to Lead the Industry – Combining Advanced Materials and Industrial 3D Printing Technologies
Polypropylene is one of those most versatile polymers available with applications in virtually all of the plastics end-use markets. PP does not present stress-cracking problems and offers excellent electrical and chemical resistance at higher temperatures. Bumpers, cladding, and exterior trim are also available manufactured from polypropylene. Polypropylene developed for such applications provides low coefficient of linear thermal expansion and specific gravity, high chemical resistance and good weatherability, processability and impact/stiffness balance.
Potential Applications of Polypropylene
- Automotive applications
- Electrical/Electronic applications
- Industrial applications
- Consumer products
- Household goods
Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) is an elastomer that is fully thermoplastic. Like all thermoplastic elastomers, TPU is elastic and melt-processable and allows for the printing of ultra-flexible objects with very high levels of precision and resolution. But more so than any other thermoplastic elastomer, TPU can provide a considerable number of physical property combinations, making it an extremely flexible material adaptable to dozens of uses such as construction, automotive and footwear. This versatility results from the unique structure of TPU and leads to high resilience, good compression set, plus resistance to impacts, abrasions, tears, weather, and even hydrocarbons.
Potential Applications of Thermoplastic Polyurethane
- Sporting goods
- Industrial parts
- Hydraulic seals and gaskets
“We believe these technology and material combinations have the potential to change our industries in the long-term. voxeljet has always been committed to bring the best innovations to our customers at every level and we are doing so in a powerful way," Dr. Ederer concluded.
About voxeljet
voxeljet is a leading provider of high-speed, large-format 3D printers and on-demand parts services to industrial and commercial customers. The Company’s 3D printers employ a powder binding, additive manufacturing technology to produce parts using various material sets, which consist of particulate materials and proprietary chemical binding agents. The Company provides its 3D printers and on-demand parts services to industrial and commercial customers serving the automotive, aerospace, film and entertainment, art and architecture, engineering and consumer product end markets. For more information, visit www.voxeljet.com.
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This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning our business, operations and financial performance. Any statements that are not of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. You can identify these forward-looking statements by words such as ‘‘believes,’’ ‘‘estimates,’’ ‘‘anticipates,’’ ‘‘expects,’’ ‘‘plans,’’ ‘‘intends,’’ ‘‘may,’’ ‘‘could,’’ ‘‘might,’’ ‘‘will,’’ ‘‘should,’’ ‘‘aims,’’ or other similar expressions that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs, assumptions, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning, among other things, our results of operations, financial condition, business outlook, the potential application of new technology and new materials and their impact on future business, the industry in which we operate and the trends that may affect the industry or us. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained in this press release, we caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. All of our forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are in some cases beyond our control and that may cause our actual results to differ materially from our expectations, including those risks identified under the caption “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 20-F and in other reports the Company files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this press release whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.