taulman3D releases New Nylon 618-s Laser Sintering 3D Printing Powder

The variety of available 3D printing materials has grown at a tremendous rate as of late. It seems as though there are new filaments, resins and laser sintering powders hitting the market on a weekly basis. It’s only a matter of time before the material’s market becomes more of an avenue for innovation than that of the actual 3D printer hardware itself.

One company that has been at the forefront of innovation within this materials market, is taulman3D. Some of you may be familiar with them because of their recently launched Kickstarter campaign for 6 new high strength FFF 3D printing filaments. So far, their campaign has raised over $50,000, with eleven days to go.

When most people think about the 3D printing materials market, they think of either traditional spooled filament, made for FDM/FFF 3D printers, or liquid resins that are made for stereolithographic 3D printers. However, perhaps the most used, and most important type of material is that of laser sintering powder. These powders are used in the more expensive industrial level selective laser sintering (SLS) machines, which are built by companies like 3D Systems. However, just recently we have reported on several more affordable SLS based 3D printers that are coming to market, targeting more of the prosumer level of use.

SLS based machines typically have been known to be “too expensive” for any small business or individual to be able to afford. In the past month though, we have learned about the Ice 1 and Ice9 SLS 3D Printers, which are priced starting at just $13,000. We have also learned about the sub-$20,000 Sharebot SnowWhite and the incredibly low priced Sintratec SLS 3D printer that is looking to raise funds for their $5,000 machine via crowdfunding.

With the increase in availability of SLS 3D printers, taulman3D is jumping on the bandwagon, by introducing a new Nylon 618-s sintering powder for these types of machines. Nylon 618-s is a sintering powder version of the company’s Nylon 618, which is targeted for FFF 3D printers.

“Nylon 618 was the first nylon co-polymer developed specifically for 3mm and 1.75mm FFF 3D printing,” explained taulman3D. “Noted early on for its high strength, superior impact resistance, lack of odors and slippery surface properties, nylon 618 was tested by professionals in the 3D Printing community and released for sale in October 2012.”

Last February the company introduced the Nylon 618-s to the developer community, and within 4 weeks their entire supply had sold out. With the feedback they gathered from the 3D printing community, along with additional research and development, today they are announcing the official release of Nylon 618-s.

• Here are some specifications of this new materials:
• Size = ~30 mesh
• Tensile (PSI) = 4,575
• Elongation = 82%
• Modulus (PSI) = 22,190
• Color = Dark Gray
• Melting Temperature = 217C
• Tg = 50C
• Weight/Pkg = 1.1lb – Vacuum sealed w/desiccant
• Shrinkage in/in = 0.0074
• Flammability = UL 94 HB – UL 94 V2@ 3.2mm thickness
• FDA – This material has yet to be submitted for approvals.

The new Nylon 618-s joins taulman3D’s family of high-strength materials which consist of Nylon 645, Nylone 618, Bridge Nylon, t-glase, and many more that are currently under development and being funded via their Kickstarter campaign.

“Because taulman3D has experience in “point source deflection”, “point source reflection”, as well as raster and vector laser positioning, we were able to provide insight on both optical and bitmapped correction systems to meet pincushion and linearity correction requirements,” the company explained.

Without a doubt, we will continue to see the development and promotion of newer 3D printable materials in the coming weeks, months and years, not only for FDM and SLA based 3D printers, but for SLS machines as well. What do you think about this latest announcement from taulman3D? Discuss in the Nylon 618-s Powder forum thread on 3DPB.com.