Chemicals and consumer goods giant Henkel (Düsseldorf / Germany; www.henkel.com) has partnered with 3D printer manufacturer Nexa3D (Ventura, California / USA; www.nexa3d.com) to develop a line of co-branded photopolymer resins for stereolithography applications. Nexa3D joins Henkel’s open materials platform, which allows 3D printer makers to qualify the German company’s materials with their different additive manufacturing technologies.

The first material developed through the collaboration and now available is Nexa3D’s “3843-xABS Black”, a new ABS resin for 3D printing that is based on Henkel’s “Loctite 3843” – a black or grey acrylic resin for engineering applications. The companies say the new resin offers significant elongation as well as outstanding flexural and tensile physical properties, high green strength and excellent heat deflection temperature. Suitable applications include mechanical assemblies for robotics and automation machinery as well as brackets, levers and arms for manufacturing stations and components for vehicles and drones.

3843-xABS Black is designed for use on Nexa3D’s flagship “NXE400” industrial-grade stereolithography 3D printer, which incorporates proprietary and patented technologies that allow for accurate printing of up to 19 litres of part volume at high speed.

Henkel has partnered with other 3D printer suppliers to develop materials, including Rapid Shape (Heimsheim / Germany; www.rapidshape.de) and Origin (San Francisco, California; www.origin.io). The company has also established a regional hub in Europe for technology presentations, demonstrations, training, testing and customer service for 3D printing solutions (see Plasteurope.com of 29.06.2018).

Henkel and six medical and technology companies have developed a “smart patch” that allows remote monitoring of a patient’s respiration and heart rate. The product was created to monitor patients with heart failure and epilepsy but will soon be trialled for monitoring Covid-19 patients in a Belgian hospital. The partners aim to roll-out the technology in May.

The Belgian collaboration is between medtech company Byteflies (Antwerp; www.byteflies.com), electronic semiconductor manufacturer Melexis (Ieper; www.melexis.com), flexible electronics supplier Quad Industries (Sint-Niklaas; www.quad-ind.com), communication technology group Televic (Izegem; www.televic.com) and remote care services company Z-Plus (www.z-plus.be) as well as the Belgian departments of Henkel and Japanese protective film and printed electronics manufacturer Nitto (Osaka; www.nitto.com).