Evolve Additive/ Twitter
Evolve Additive Twitter
Evonik and Evolve Additive Solutions have announced a joint development agreement to formulate the former’s thermoplastic materials for use with the latter’s STEP additive manufacturing process.
STEP, or selective thermoplastic electrophotographic process, is the proprietary 3D printing technology of Evolve, which spun out of Stratasys over a year ago. It has been developed to process thermoplastic materials quickly, offering isotropic properties in X, Y, and Z, and rival the surface finish of traditional methods.
The partnership between Evonik and Evolve will begin with a focus on polyamide 12, PEBA, transparent polyamide, polyamide 6, and further into the future more and more materials used to produce traditionally manufactured products.
Evolve vision its STEP process supplementing these traditional methods of manufacturing, however, offering an alternative means of production which doesn’t require tools and allows more freedom in design. Currently in the alpha development stage, Evolve expects to commercialise the technology in late 2020, and by partnering with Evonik hopes users will be able to access an extensive portfolio of production-grade materials.
“STEP has been developed for volume manufacturing so offering the widest range of thermoplastic materials to our customers is a critical element for production,” commented Steve Chillscyzn, CEO of Evolve Additive Solutions. “The joint development agreement with Evonik allows us to broaden the spectrum of STEP materials to include materials currently accepted by OEMs from additive manufacturing, but more importantly to debut a whole new set of materials opening up more applications that can take advantage of everything additive manufacturing offers.”
“Evolve’s entirely new technology approach will allow us to expand the range of applications of our high-performance materials, which are produced through a unique production process,” added Thomas Grosse-Puppendahl, the Head of Additive Manufacturing Innovation Growth Field at Evonik. “With more than 20 years of experience in 3D printing, we will also develop a wider range of customised material formulations to unlock the full potential of the STEP technology.”
