The Ten Kate team knew if they were serious about 3D printing, materials was the first place to start…which is why they contacted Innofil3D.
“Material performance is extremely important for us, especially when using 3D-printed parts on our racing bikes,” explained Bastiaan Huisjes, an R&D engineer at Ten Kate Racing. “We have to take into account rapid changing conditions in temperature, mechanical loads and vibrations. So materials had to be the starting point for us.”
“Our extensive knowledge of the properties and benefits of SMA has enabled us to develop an SMA/ABS based compound for the technical FDM market – XILOY™ 3D – providing the same benefits, such as adhesion to glass bed and support material,” said Paul van den Heuvel, Market & Application Development Manager at Polyscope.
Most ABS filaments are general purpose injection molding grades – not great for users wanting to harness the full potential of 3D printing. During this year’s superbike pre-season and season, Innofil3D, Polyscope, and Ten Kate Racing all worked together to improve the material’s features, focusing on high heat resistance, improving usability with low warping, and that pesky support and bed adhesion problem.
“For me it is important that a material like ABS FUSION⁺ is easy to process,” said Huisjes. “We are a racing team and I am not a full time 3D-printing operator.”
So that Ten Kate would be able to 3D print the superbike component parts they needed, as well as test the performance of the innovative new material, Innofil3D offered the team one of its own 3D printers to use. ABS FUSION⁺ offers increased flexibility in designing parts, which is exactly what Ten Kate was looking for.
“The spacer for the dashboard is a good example. Designing and milling of this part would have taken us at least 3 weeks. Now the whole process is reduced to just one week,” said Huisjes. “A material like ABS FUSION⁺ enables us to use more and more 3D-printed parts on our racing bikes and it gives the flexibility and performance/quality we need.”
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[Source/Images: Innofil3D]