Days after announcing a new distribution partnership with southern European 3DZ Group, 3D printing company Nexa3D has released a new material for its ultra-fast stereolithography technology. The resin, xCE-Black, is a high-performance, single-cure polymer with excellent isotropic properties as well as long-term environmental stability.
Thanks to this combination of properties, xCE-Black is well suited for the production of automotive, electronic and industrial end-use parts, as well as injection molding tools. The single-cure material is also notable for its high flexural strength, comparable to those of dual-cure cyanate ester resins.
The new resin has undergone extensive testing for a range of end-use applications and has performed well on many fronts. Its excellent thermal and environmental stability are ideal for automotive and electronics applications, among others, while its strength isotropic properties are conducive to the production of injection molding tools for a wide range of thermoplastic polymers, including PP, PE, HDPE and PETG. In tests, 3D printed molds made from xCE-Black were used hundreds of times at temperatures between 230°C and 280°C without any visible mold temperature degradation or adhesion. The material also did not require the use of any mold release agents.
In fact, the resin has already been adopted in house at Nexa3D’s facility. “When I needed to produce thousands of belt pulleys in our flexible factory overnight, I selected our new xCE-Black material for the job because of its high flexural strength and long-term stability,” said Brent Zollinger, Customer Success Lead at Nexa3D. “Within the first 2.5 hours into the project, I was able to print 2,000 pulleys in a single build or 13 parts every minute. That’s really fast and extremely practical for serial production of industrial parts.”
Nexa3D plans to release additional high-performance materials for its ultra-fast SLA technology; the company is using the slow-down of COVID-19 to innovate and test new material options.
“Our rapid materials portfolio and reseller network expansion are consistent with our post-COVID-19 plan to deliver greater supply chain resiliency to our customers,” said Izhar Medalsy, COO of Nexa3D. “With every addition of new materials and market coverage, we are taking decisive steps to deliver a substantial speed and productivity upgrade to our customers through our fast industrial printers and high-performance polymers at an attractive cost of ownership.”
