TÜV SÜD certifies its filament and printing process for reproducible printing

Commissioned by the LEHVOSS Group and Ultimaker, TÜV SÜD has certified the 3D printing process using the combination of LUVOCOM 3F Filament and Ultimaker printer. This comprised the material properties, production of the test specimen – including the dimensional tolerances, the manufacture of the filament and the printing process. In addition, emissions were measured during the printing process.

The printing process meets the requirements drawn up by TÜV SÜD in all aspects. The test specification “Reproducible 3DP construction process” refers to existing and emerging 3D printing standards. As a result, the LUVOCOM 3F Filament PA 9825 NT under test, an unreinforced high-performance polyamide, and the Ultimaker S5 Pro Bundle are the world’s first system certified by TÜV SÜD in the field of fused filament fabrication (FFF).

On the basis of its range of more than 30 materials for FFF to date, the LEHVOSS Group is supplying four materials as its filament. Work is underway on the certification of all four filament variants. Th focus here is on the development, production and distribution of materials that can be marketed in filament form by well-known established manufacturers under their brand names.

 “This is an important step for the industrialization and scalability of FFF. The certified system increases reliability in parts production and is intended to accelerate the use of 3D printing to put it on a par with already established production processes such as injection molding”, says Dr. Thiago Medeiros Araujo, Business Development LUVOCOM 3F. “We are proud to be the world’s first supplier of filaments with this certification.”

 “We are thrilled to receive this certification from TÜV SÜD and look forward to our continued work with the LEHVOSS Group,” said Jos Burger, CEO at Ultimaker. “This certification proves that parts produced with the Ultimaker S5 Pro Bundle and the LUVOCOM 3F PAHT 9825 NT are done in an accurate and reproducible way. By many of our customers, this is considered very important and often even a prerequisite for the implementation of FFF 3D printing with engineering materials in advanced applications. We are excited to confirm that our customers have access to such a superior production process.”

 “Certification of the reproducible 3DP construction process is a crucial milestone on the way to competitive production by means of 3D printers. The test specification with the underlying standards helps all market players to recognize the difference between 3D printing for manufacturing prototypes and 3D printing for production purposes. The certified reproducible printing process primarily helps users to reduce their costs of technology integration. Minimizing the costs of integration for production purposes creates a greater willingness to integrate and more trust. We hope that many applications and industries will benefit from the reliable, high-quality implementation with cost transparency that it will permit”, says Gregor Reischle, Head of Additive Manufacturing at TÜV SÜD.

 “Many of our industrial customers wish to further establish and scale up additive manufacturing. The intention here is that the benefits in costs and efficiency should not only be exploited in the typical fields of application, such as rapid prototyping or rapid tooling. Above all, the production of small series and spare parts is becoming increasingly more relevant so that the guarantee of high accuracy and replicability of the components is a decisive factor for an optimum production process. Consequently, we are all the more pleased that the FFF system certified by TÜV SÜD will enable us to offer our clients a solution that documents the reproducibility and traceability of the product quality and thus opens many additional areas of use”, comments Athanassios Kotrotsios, Managing Director of IGO3D GmbH, one the leading companies in the distribution of 3D printers and accessories.