Freshmade 3D Unveils High-Strength Composite

Youngstown, OH-based start-up Freshmade 3D literally rolled out a new, strong 3D printing material at a recent press conference. The company used its new AMClad material to print a bowling ball as a way to demonstrate its durability. The new product was unveiled at the Camelot Lanes bowling alley in Boardman, OH, earlier this month.

"Compared to nylon, which is a commonly used 3D printing material, which is common in the tooling industry, it's right up there with that. It can withstand high tensile strengths and it has a good compression strength," said Rich Wetzel, CEO of Freshmade 3D.

“If you were to do that with a bowling ball [made from traditional 3-D printing materials], it wouldn’t be heavy enough and it’d probably shatter on impact,” Wetzel said in an interview with The Business Journal. “We wanted to show that this is a strong material that won’t break and can withstand several cycles in manufacturing.”

AMClad is an isotropic engineered particulate composite (EPC) that can be used for printing “large, functional and strong objects,” according to the company. It offers a tensile strength of 4,820 psi, and can provide a variety of surface finishes. It’s comparable to ABS in terms of tensile strength and flexural strength, but also offers a compression strength of 18,000 psi.

Freshmade 3D is a Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) company, and is working with YBI to find companies who can use the new composite in manufacturing applications.

"Things like vacuum forming, blow molding, things that form plastics, for example, but also sheet metal forming and even composite layout tools and more simple applications like fixtures, jigs, and various manufacturing aids," said Brett Conner, CTO of Freshmade 3D.

Sources: WFMJ, The Business Journal.