Acquisitions, Mergers & Partnerships Formnext 2023

Rapid Shape and Forward AM offer integrated workflows for DLP

Tess BoissonneaultNovember 19, 2021

1 minute read

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Forward AM, BASF 3D Printing Solutions’ brand, and German DLP 3D printer manufacturer Rapid Shape are partnering to offer workflows aimed at streamlining and optimizing the combination of their respective materials and AM systems.

Rapid Shape develops and sells open DLP 3D printing systems and offers its clients validated workflows for printing high-performance materials, such as those offered by Forward AM. Through the collaboration between the two companies, Rapid Shape customers will be able to produce parts using Forward AM materials with more efficiency and with higher productivity and performance.

As Andreas Schultheiss, CEO of Rapid Shape, explains: “A workflow is not just the preparation of parameters to create a specific geometry, but the development of the entire production process: pre-processing, printing, cleaning and post-processing. Material properties, part accuracy and surface finishing must be ensured so that our customers are able to produce parts that really work. This can only happen in close cooperation between material and machine suppliers.”

Forward AM has a versatile portfolio of materials tailored for DLP technologies such as Rapid Shape’s. Its Ultracur3D Photopolymer series includes rigid resins, flexible and elastomeric resins, dental resins and more. François Minec, Managing Director of BASF 3D Printing Solutions, hints that the partnership will be particularly fruitful for medical applications. He says: “With Rapid Shape we have found one of the few 3D printer suppliers that comes from the mass production market and not only knows the requirements for the production of medical devices very well, but also reliably fulfills them.”

Other industries that seek to benefit from the material-machine workflows are packaging, footwear, electronics, tooling and more, which can utilize Forward AM’s industrial resins with Rapid Shape’s printers to achieve serial production. The companies presented their collaboration at Formnext 2021 this week in Frankfurt, Germany.