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Ultimaker and partners enable new 3D printing materials

Through Ultimaker's Material Alliance Program, companies like Clariant, DSM, and DuPont are offering a range of materials to fit on Ultimaker 3D printers.
Written by Stephanie Condon, Senior Writer

Ultimaker and its partners on Tuesday announced they're enabling a range of new materials to fit on Ultimaker 3D printers. The new material print profiles, released with companies like Clariant, DSM, and DuPont, are available via the latest version of the free print preparation software, Ultimaker Cura 3.6.

Back in April, Ultimaker announced a new Material Alliance Program aimed at further developing professional desktop 3D printing. Materials are playing a key role in the expansion of 3D printing. Stratasys and 3D Systems, for instance, have recently stressed that the 3D printers that can work with metal have become important growth drivers.

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Ultimaker and its partners have focused on engineering plastics and composites. According to MarketInsider, the 3D printing plastics market size is projected to reach $1.97 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 26.1 percent between 2018 and 2023.

Ultimaker Cura 3.6 offers a Marketplace where users can install print profiles from Ultimaker's partners. Currently, the Marketplace offers material profiles for BASF, Clariant, DSM, DuPont, and Owens Corning. Soon, it will offer material profiles from other companies including Arkema, colorFabb, ElogioAM, Eastman, Henkel, igus, Matterhackers and Polymaker.

The material profiles are fully optimized for Ultimaker 3D printers, with no need to manually input parameters before printing.

Since Ultimaker launched the Material Alliance Program, more than 60 companies have shown interest in enabling new and existing materials to fit on Ultimaker 3D printers, according to Paul Heiden, Ultimaker's SVP of product management.

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"This is just the tip of the iceberg," Heiden said in a statement. "Professionals that are looking for composite, flame retardant, ESD or transparent materials can now choose the right print profiles from an evolving marketplace of materials and benefit from a complete solution where hardware, software and materials are fully aligned. This integration is what enables reliable print results and this is what will help to unlock new 3D print applications."

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