3D Systems has announced the availability of its latest production-grade acrylate resin, called Accura AMX Rigid Black. The resin has been designed for use with 3D System’s stereolithography (SLA) technology and will be utilized to produce large-scale additively manufactured parts with excellent resolution, high accuracy, and surface quality capable of withstanding the stresses of long-term use.
The company predicts that by utilizing the 3D Systems additive manufacturing solution a range of customers in the motorsport and automotive sectors will be able to address a wide array of production challenges.
Accura AMX Rigid Black has been designed and developed by scientists to ensure components made from the material meet long-lasting mechanical performance and stability requirements in a range of environments. The surface quality is stated to rival injection-molded parts and its stress, strain and toughness performance is similar to standard thermoplastics.
During the development process, Accura AMX Rigid Black was tested for eight years of indoor and a year and a half of outdoor use. Furthermore, the high isotropic properties of Accura AMX Rigid Black enable greater part repeatability and accuracy.
The production of Accura AMX Rigid Black by 3D systems was partly inspired by the production application requirements of Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR). The pair began a partnership in 2019 to advance automotive engineering, and since doing so, multiple first-to-market manufacturing solutions have been created to change the way in which the automotive sector carries out design and production processes.
“Accura AMX Rigid Black allows us to deliver larger, complex SLA production parts, including full-scale manufacturing aids,” commented Alexander Liebold, group leader, production engineering and future technologies, TGR. “We recently used the material to develop 3D printed fixtures for stabilizing larger automotive components for CNC milling.”
Liebold continued, “Using Accura AMX Rigid Black we achieved 90%-time savings and 60% cost savings in comparison to the previous handwork process for a batch of 40 parts. Unlike other additive production technologies, parts in Accura AMX Rigid Black provide very smooth sidewalls and superior isotropic strength, critical for accurate jigs and fixtures that are in constant use. Now we can turn around any large-scale part and be confident it will perform as required, for as long as we need. This is a real game-changer for production manufacturing.”
