Stratasys has commenced a qualification program for the SAF PA12 nylon material.
The program is intended to help manufacturers address 'modernisation and reshoring initiatives' by enabling 'more scalable, qualified additive manufacturing.'
It will aim to apply a structured framework for material performance, consistency and traceability, while shortening material qualification timelines to allow manufacturers to move from adoption to routine production using Selective Absorption Fusion printers more efficiently.
“SAF technology is designed to help manufacturers address the realities of production—throughput, consistency, and cost efficiency at scale,” said Rich Garrity, President and Chief Business Unit Officer, Stratasys. “Validating SAF PA12 for industrial use cases reduces barriers to enterprise adoption by expanding where and how customers can apply the technology, giving them greater confidence to use SAF across functional prototyping, tooling, and production environments.”
The qualification of SAF PA12 is being conducted through an industry-led collaboration, using the NCAMP (National Center for Advanced Materials Performance) materials qualification process that brings together leading manufacturers and additive manufacturing service bureaus. Early participants include Boeing, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon, along with Additive at Scale, Bifrost Manufacturing, 3D Composites, Rapid PSI, and Stratasys Direct Manufacturing. Together, this group is validating SAF PA12 powder to support repeatable, production-grade manufacturing across demanding industrial applications.
“Bifrost is excited to participate in this effort to support our aerospace and defence partners, and most significantly, this will provide engineers and designers with validated data, predictability and trust in additive for production components,” added Killian Erickson, Founder and CEO, Bifrost. “We're working together with Stratasys and the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) to provide the knowledge and resources to eliminate the guesswork for our clients, further cementing SAF as a keystone technology in our business."
