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 era {hardware}, supplies are once more taking centre stage.
Throughout the additive manufacturing business, supplies innovation in chemistry, formulation and processing are altering what’s attainable. Excessive-temperature polymers rival metals in efficiency, bio-derived resins and recycled powders minimize carbon with out compromising power. {Hardware} is evolving, nevertheless it’s the fabric that decides whether or not an concept strikes from CAD and turns into a product.
Subsequent era {hardware} will demand versatile manufacturing strategies that each ship the fitting components at this time and have the flexibleness 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 components usually seemed 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are additionally starting to consider the way to finest use what’s out there as a substitute of demanding the ‘outdated’ materials. Engineers now ask whether or not the out there materials delivers the thermal, chemical or mechanical behaviour the applying calls for. Those that discover the fitting match are gaining the flexibility to localise manufacturing, simplify provide chains and ship tailor-made components on demand.
It’s one thing of a quiet revolution: much less seen than a brand new machine launch, however way 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 means of them. Each new addition to our portfolio is guided by a easy precept: permit extra challenges to be tackled with additive manufacturing.
The newest enlargement introduces 4 industrial-grade supplies that proceed this development: 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, preferrred for elements that flex, seal or interface with liquids. Nylon 11 provides affect resistance and ductility, making it appropriate for protecting housings, versatile joints and structural components that must survive repeated loading.
The 2 Somos supplies lengthen our attain into visible and optical territories. Watershed Black affords a wonderful floor end and robust dimensional accuracy for housings and enclosures the place aesthetics matter. Watershed XC pushes into transparency, enabling gentle guides, lenses, and fluidic gadgets the place readability is practical, not ornamental.
Additive manufacturing supplies innovation is pushing design envelopes
The newest 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 commonplace polymers.
PPA-CF delivers power, stiffness and dimensional stability at roughly half the load of aluminium, with warmth deflection temperatures (HDTs) as much as 188°C, making it preferrred 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 mixture is suited to automotive, aerospace, industrial and digital elements uncovered to harsh circumstances.
Every of those supplies represents greater than one other SKU in a listing — they’re constructing blocks for merchandise that may transfer rapidly and immediately from digital idea to industrial manufacturing, with out compromise.
Why materials innovation defines the following period
The massive 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 boundaries erected and manufacturing more and more seen as a nationwide safety difficulty the flexibility to supply stronger, lighter and extra localised components is turning into a aggressive differentiator. The businesses that thrive on this surroundings shall be people who embrace the palette of supplies out there 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 hold bettering in fact, 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 muse of it.
