Each main industrial period has been enabled by its supplies. Iron and metal outlined the mechanical age; Silicon is powering the digital one. Now, as manufacturing redefines itself across the wants of subsequent technology {hardware}, supplies are once more taking centre stage.
Throughout the additive manufacturing trade, supplies innovation in chemistry, formulation and processing are altering what’s potential. Excessive-temperature polymers rival metals in efficiency, bio-derived resins and recycled powders reduce carbon with out compromising energy. {Hardware} is evolving, nevertheless it’s the fabric that decides whether or not an concept strikes from CAD and turns into a product.
Subsequent technology {hardware} will demand versatile manufacturing strategies that each ship the precise elements immediately and have the pliability to deal with no matter comes tomorrow.
Supplies are the limiting issue… and the chance
Since its inception additive manufacturing was constrained by materials efficiency. The elements usually appeared spectacular, however most weren’t licensed or constant sufficient for true end-use functions. The breadth of supplies was no the place close to that for different established manufacturing applied sciences in each polymers and metals.
That’s altering. In the present day, new formulations are reaching mechanical properties as soon as reserved for injection-moulded plastics and solid metals. Enhanced repeatability that makes them appropriate for manufacturing runs, not simply prototypes.
Producers are additionally starting to consider finest use what’s accessible as a substitute of demanding the ‘previous’ materials. Engineers now ask whether or not the accessible materials delivers the thermal, chemical or mechanical behaviour the applying calls for. Those that discover the precise match are gaining the power to localise manufacturing, simplify provide chains and ship tailor-made elements on demand.
It’s one thing of a quiet revolution: much less seen than a brand new machine launch, however much more consequential.
Our strategy
Shapeways has lengthy been on the intersection of that shift. Our platform is constructed not solely on machines, however on the supplies that run by way of them. Each new addition to our portfolio is guided by a easy precept: enable extra challenges to be tackled with additive manufacturing.
The most recent enlargement introduces 4 industrial-grade supplies that proceed this pattern: SAF™ Polypropylene (PP), SAF™ Nylon 11 (PA11), Somos® Watershed Black, and Somos® Watershed XC 11122. Every arrives with distinct properties that open new doorways for designers and engineers.
Polypropylene brings one of many world’s most typical manufacturing polymers to the desk. It’s light-weight, fatigue-resistant, and chemically secure, perfect for elements that flex, seal or interface with liquids. Nylon 11 provides impression resistance and ductility, making it appropriate for protecting housings, versatile joints and structural elements that must survive repeated loading.
The 2 Somos supplies prolong our attain into visible and optical territories. Watershed Black affords a positive floor end and robust dimensional accuracy for housings and enclosures the place aesthetics matter. Watershed XC pushes into transparency, enabling mild guides, lenses, and fluidic gadgets the place readability is purposeful, not ornamental.
Additive manufacturing supplies innovation is pushing design envelopes
The most recent FDM additions (PPA-CF (carbon-fibre-reinforced polyphthalamide) and PPS-CF (carbon-fibre-reinforced polyphenylene sulfide)) proceed the supplies innovation momentum. Each are designed for demanding environments the place warmth, chemical compounds and mechanical stress rule out normal polymers.Â
PPA-CF delivers energy, stiffness and dimensional stability at roughly half the load of aluminium, with warmth deflection temperatures (HDTs) as much as 188°C, making it perfect for structural brackets, housings and light-weight tooling. PPS-CF goes even additional, with HDTs round 252°C, UL 94 V-0 flame retardancy and glorious chemical resistance. This mix is suited to automotive, aerospace, industrial and digital elements uncovered to harsh situations.Â
Every of those supplies represents greater than one other SKU in a list — they’re constructing blocks for merchandise that may transfer shortly and instantly from digital idea to industrial manufacturing, with out compromise.
Why materials innovation defines the following period
The large image is that the frontier of additive manufacturing now not lies within the mechanics of printing, however within the supplies science of what’s being printed.
Because the resilience of worldwide provide chains continues to be questioned, commerce limitations erected and manufacturing more and more seen as a nationwide safety subject the power to supply stronger, lighter and extra localised elements is turning into a aggressive differentiator. The businesses that thrive on this atmosphere will likely be people who embrace the palette of supplies accessible to them and embed them of their design logic.
That’s what Shapeways’ Subsequent Era {Hardware} imaginative and prescient captures: a future the place efficiency and manufacturing agility converge, the place supplies innovation turns digital flexibility into bodily actuality.
The machines will maintain enhancing after all, nevertheless it’s the fabric that units the tempo. Each new formulation expands the boundaries of design and reshapes how merchandise are made, distributed and maintained. In that sense, supplies aren’t simply a part of the story of Subsequent Era {Hardware}, they’re the inspiration of it.
