DyeMansion introduces 17 new color finishes for gray HP MJF parts
Hues to become commercially available in July 2020
German post-processing company DyeMansion has launched a new series of colors specifically tailored to HP’s MultiJet Fusion parts made from gray Polyamide 12. The vibrant collection consists of 17 hues and will become commercially available in July 2020.
While DyeMansion has long offered a broad range of colorful dyes for 3D printed parts—the company boasts the largest color database on the market—it has been limited in its offering for parts 3D printed using PA 12 and HP’s MultiJet Fusion system. The reason for this is simple: the base material is gray. Now, however, DyeMansion has developed a palette of 17 colors which are specifically engineered for coloring gray PA12 parts printed on HP’s MJF system (4200/5200 series).
“The number of HP systems in the market is growing and our customers’ demand for vibrant colors for their gray parts was strong,” said Kai Witter, Chief Customer Officer at DyeMansion. “We have taken up this challenge and now respond to the needs of the market with a new color line. We are looking forward to the first colorful products on the market and are excited to see which industry will be the forerunner here.”
The new color range consists of several hues: from black and gray tones, to blue and red. The collection also includes green, turquoise, yellow and pink tones—which were previously unavailable for gray parts. DyeMansion believes this broader variety of finishes for HP’s MJF PA12 parts will create new opportunities in the consumer goods sector, as well as in automotive and orthopaedics.
The new spectrum of post-processing dyes is now available through a beta program, in which selected partners will be able to test the colors out. The commercial launch is then expected to be rolled out in July 2020. Through the beta program, DyeMansion aims to refine production parameters and post-processing steps for optimal coloring.
“In order to achieve strong colors even on parts with gray base material with immediate effect, we have redefined our process and developed a special recipe,” added Philipp Kramer, Co-Founder and CTO of DyeMansion. “The handling remains easy for our customers, because no DM60 hardware or software adjustments are necessary to use the new colors.”
DyeMansion’s colorful finishing is achieved using its patented DeepDye process, in which printed parts are submerged in a water bath with the dyes. The process is unique in that the dyes react with the base material in the water bath as pressure and heat are applied. This results in a dye-job that penetrates up to 200 μm into the open pores of the parts.
The German company’s finishing solution also relies on PolyShot Surfacing (PSS), a mechanical finishing process carried out using the Powershot S system. In this post-processing step, parts undergo a mechanical blasting process to achieve a homogenized and high quality surface finish. DyeMansion says that it can work with customers to test VaporFuse Surfacing processes with its new color spectrum.
