BASF, Xaar Collaborate On Industrialization Of Photopolymer Jetting

BASF (U.S. office in Florham Park, N.J.) and Xaar (Cambridge, United Kingdom), a provider in industrial inkjet technology, announce a collaboration to improve the photopolymer jetting (PPJ) process also known as material deposition. This collaboration will reportedly enable manufacturers to produce 3D parts with improved properties and lower costs than currently possible. BASF and Xaar are seeking companies to join the collaboration to understand how these improvements can serve industrial part manufacturing. This applies to companies wishing to make bespoke industrial 3D printing machinery or standalone 3D printers.

In the photopolymer jetting process, photopolymers are deposited by jetting droplets onto a build bed platform which are cured using a UV light source. This process is repeated layer-by-layer, using part and support photopolymers to create the intended 3D object. The collaboration of BASF and Xaar has produced improvements over the existing process. The benefits come from Xaar’s industrial inkjet printheads with TF Technology ink recirculation and the newly released High Laydown Technology combined with BASF’s newly developed photopolymers. Xaar’s High Laydown Technology enables high deposition rates of up to 20 l/hr with addressability of 720 dpi with the Xaar 2001+. Additionally, Xaar’s low energy Chevron actuator and TF Technology enables use of high viscosity and high particle-loaded fluids. BASF’s new photopolymers have been developed to complement Xaar’s printhead specifications in order to deliver high productivity and improved parts properties.

“With the new photopolymers developed by BASF we have proven that significant improvements can be achieved using a combination of technologies from both companies,” says Doug Edwards, CEO at Xaar. “While continuing to develop this offering, we are now ready to bring in more partners from a range of industry sectors to implement the solution.”

“The productivity and fluid flexibility we achieved with Xaar printheads and our advanced chemistry address market requirements for productivity and quality which to date have remained unmet,” says Volker Hammes, managing director BASF 3D Printing Solutions GmbH. “The solution arising from this collaboration will enable manufacturers to produce significantly better parts, more reliably, at higher production levels and which better meet their cost targets.”