Image Credit: ZwickRoell GmbH Co. KG
3D-printed plastics components, used typically as prototypes, are being utilized increasingly throughout production. With this dynamic process, new products are consistently in development and existing components are always being enhanced.
To limit testing and analysis costs while setting up industry-recognized test standards for production and for the 3D printing industry, Cubicure in Vienna, Austria, relies on ZwickRoell’s testing technology.
Despite the growing use of high performance 3D-printed polymers, there is a lack of conventional test standards that are widely accepted. To accelerate the inception of such standards, Cubicure in Vienna has set up a testing lab utilizing testing technology supplied by ZwickRoell.
ZwickRoell’s innovative and pioneering instruments and testXpert III testing software offers dependable test results in accordance with ISO 17296-3.
With the UTM Proline Z010 for tensile and flexure tests, the hardness testers for Shore-A and Shore-D, and the HIT5.5P Plus impact tester with instrumented pendulum thus, comprehensive testing options are readily available.
Image Credit: ZwickRoell GmbH Co. KG
The HDT/Vicat Standard, which records the heat deflection temperature of high-performance polymers (~300°C), crowns Cubicure’s fleet of machines.
When setting up the lab, special attention was given to performing standard-compliant tests with extremely limited use of materials — and therefore the geometries of small specimens — throughout the development phase.
The option to customize test standards was of equal importance in order to facilitate the classification of new material categories for which no test standards currently exist.
The decision to move forward with ZwickRoell in Ulm was predicated on the fact the company’s testing machines, with innovative software, fulfill the desired requirements while being operator friendly. Other advantages include the testing machines’ dependable service and extended operating life.
About Cubicure
Cubicure GmbH was established in March 2015 by Prof. Jürgen Stampfl (Institute of Materials Science and Technology) and Dr. Robert Gmeiner as a spin-off of the Technical University in Vienna - specializing in additive manufacturing of high-performance polymers.
The custom-developed hot lithography technology is predicated on light-curable plastics that are printed by curing the plastic with a laser in a high-precision layer-by-layer approach.
With this novel 3D-printing alternative, materials whose (thermo) mechanical properties are akin to those of technical thermoplastics can be treated with the highest degree of accuracy.
Sponsored by the city of Vienna funded Vienna Business Agency, the installation of the testing lab’s equipment took place in 2018 as part of the Shared Facilities Project.
This means that the testing equipment is also open to other local Austrian 3D printing companies upon request and is intended to drive and advance the development of materials for additive manufacturing processes.
Image Credit: ZwickRoell GmbH Co. KG
This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by ZwickRoell.
For more information on this source, please visit ZwickRoell GmbH Co. KG