Flux 3D Fortify’s Flux One 3-D printer debuted last year and introduced the company’s Continuous Kinetic Mixing (CKM) and Fluxprint modules. CKM keeps additives, such as particles or fibers, evenly distributed within the liquid polymer throughout the printing process. With liquid polymer containing magnetically responsive fibers, the Fluxprint module’s magnetic field can align all of the fibers in a single orientation. The printer’s UV light source can selectively cure individual voxels in a single layer of liquid resin, reorient the magnetic field to align the fibers in the remaining uncured polymer in a new direction, and then cure them to lock them into that new orientation. Voxels are a 3-D printer’s equivalent to a pixel in 2-D printing.
What’s new? The Flux 3D printer, which builds on its predecessor’s capabilities with the Fluxprint 3D module. This updated module allows for full three-axis alignment of its magnetic field, a capability that goes beyond the Flux One’s Z-axis-only alignment.
Benefits Parts with unique properties. While many forms of 3-D printing allow for part consolidation, the Flux 3D printer can orient fibers to follow the curvature of a thin-walled part, creating a part with increased strength. Other capabilities, such as thermal conductivity, can also be integrated with this technology. For example, a photopolymer with specially selected fibers in it could be used to create a component of an electronic device that conducts heat while acting as an electrical insulator.
Fortify Inc., Boston, 857-274-0483, [email protected], www.3dfortify.com
