Hot off the presses: company igus boosts development of high-temperature filaments with home-built HT printer

"A good example of our Low Cost Automation concept," says Tom Krause, igus GmbH, about the new high-temperature 3D printer designed and built by his team

Low Cost Automation in our own factory: building on this idea, igus built an HT-3D printer for the development of new high-temperature filaments, using in-house mechanical engineering components. In this way, complete linear systems consisting of drylin W linear guides, dryspin spindles made of stainless steel and the igus standard stepper motors were used. Thanks to the new 3D printer, users can now use a lubricant- and maintenance-free filament for the production of heat-resistant special components with the iglidur J350 high-performance plastic.

High temperatures create problems not only for many machine elements in plants but also in conventional 3D printers. To develop new filaments for wear-resistant components in high-temperature applications, igus has now built a high-temperature 3D printer. For the mechanical systems, igus engineers relied on the heat-resistant stainless steel components of the maintenance-free drylin W linear guide and smooth-running dryspin spindles with high pitch in the X, Y and Z axes. Lubricant-free sliding film and threaded spindle nuts made from the wear-resistant high-performance plastics iglidur X and iglidur C500 ensure precise adjustment of the build platform even at installation room temperatures of up to 200°C. "In the new 3D printer, we rely on standard components from igus, which work reliably even at the high installation room temperatures. We use a nozzle that can melt filament at temperatures of up to 400°C," explains Tom Krause, head of the Additive Manufacturing Department at igus GmbH. "Thus, we were able to develop and extensively test a filament for high-temperature environments."

Wear-resistant components suitable for temperatures up to 180°C
The lubricant-free iglidur J350 is already offered by the motion plastics specialist in the plain bearing and bar material program. The high performance plastic is mainly characterized by its extremely high wear resistance and very low friction coefficients on steel. This endurance runner is particularly suitable for rotation, and has high dimensional stability at temperatures up to 180°C. Medium to high loads are no problem for iglidur J350. With the high-temperature 3D printer, the filament can be processed well on a PCB equipped with a PET film. Typical applications of the new filament are, for example, in automaton technology, the automotive sector, the glass industry and mechanical engineering. In addition to iglidur J350, six other filaments are available from igus: from materials approved for food contact to "chemical-grade" materials. The new iglidur J350 filament can be ordered at Webshop.