US-based PLA producer NatureWorks (Minnetonka, Minnesota; www.natureworksllc.com) has partnered with Irish technology startup 3DOM Filaments (Donegal; www.3domfilaments.com), to bring its "Ingeo" PLA technology and the Donegal company's filament manufacturing process to the 3D printing market. The collaboration marks the first time NatureWorks has consented to the licensing of both the Ingeo brand name and logo in the 3D printing industry. 3DOM’s Ingeo filament is expected to become commercially available in January 2014.

Commenting on the cooperation, Dan Sawyer, head of NatureWorks’ New Business segment, said, "With Ingeo, 3DOM Filaments will help to ensure the availability of a PLA monofilament that meets quality standards and reduces filament-related printing problems. While the 3DOM company is new, the team there has more than a decade of experience with Ingeo PLA." In fact, the Irish company was founded with the goal of supplying the additive manufacturing market with Ingeo filament.

"With Ingeo, 3DOM gives people the freedom to create without the hurdles and frustrations of markedly inferior monofilaments,” said the Irish company's director, Ciaran McMenamin, adding "We have spent a year developing a process for converting Ingeo into a consistently high quality filament portfolio." Thanks to his companies' affinity with Ingeo, McMenamin said, it is able to meet specific customer requirements concerning filament stiffness as well as the impact resistance and dimensional stability of the finished part.