BASF announced that it will provide innovative 3D printing additive manufacturing materials to Paxis LLC for their new WAV technology.
This is currently in development and is designed to meet the needs of additive manufacturing users, advanced manufacturing as well as traditional manufacturing markets. The WAV (Wave Applied Voxel) process was created with the end-user firmly in mind in an effort to solve trapped volume issues of within current liquid resin-based technologies.
“The combination of BASF materials and Paxis’s sytem will revolutionize the way end-applications are designed, manufactured and integrated into production”, states Arnaud Guedou, Business Director Photopolymer Solutions, BASF 3D Printing Solutions. “With the new WAV™ technology, Paxis extends the application possibilities of additive manufacturing to a much broader scope than current technologies allow. What’s more, equipment and processes can be adapted to requirements that were previously unimaginable in additive manufacturing. BASF’s innovative photopolymer materials are a perfect match for Paxis’s WAV technology.”
BASF’s Ultracur3D ST 45 reactive urethane photopolymer for tough applications has been designed to fulfill the requirements of functional applications for high accuracy and mechanical strength, where existing 3D printing materials often reach their limitations. Ultracur3D ST 45 can be used to produce high performance functional parts by using a wide variety of equipment, such as stereolithography (SLA), digital light processing (DLP), or Liquid Crystal Display (LCD).
Paxis’s primary focus are commercial manufacturer applications in the aerospace, automotive, dental and medical sectors, as well as identifying potential vertical markets within advanced manufacturing that have so far been ignored due to the limitations of existing technologies.
Commercial manufacturers will benefit from a scalability of size and speed previously unknown in current additive-manufacturing resin-based systems. Hand-selected companies will be invited during the early stages of hardware and product development to work closely with industrial producers on solving their application requirements. Adaptability to specific commercial manufacturer needs coupled with a system capable of far greater scalability will further accelerate additive manufacturing beyond mass customization, with the goal of opening up new untapped vertical markets.
“Pairing innovative materials at the earliest stages of designing the WAV technology is critical to meeting the needs of end-users – that is, the commercial manufacturers”, explains Mike Littrell, CEO, co-inventor of WAV and Founder of Paxis LLC. “Too often, the material is modified to work within the limitations of existing technologies. Through our early access program our approach is to work with progressive material manufacturers like BASF, as well as commercial manufacturers at the earliest stages of product development in order to push system capabilities and forge future hardware improvements. Developing the materials prior to launching the WAV technology will enable end-users to integrate the technology quickly into their operations.”
“BASF’s collaboration with Paxis will enable customers to access a modular additive manufacturing technology, whether they are producing large quantities of small parts, small quantities of very large parts, or anything in between”, says Oleksandra Korotchuk, Business Development Manager BASF 3D Printing Solutions. “The combination of BASF materials and Paxis’s WAV technology will revolutionize the way end-applications are designed, manufactured and integrated into scalable production.”
Source: BASF
