Chemicals and plastics group Sabic (Riyadh / Saudi Arabia; www.sabic.com) has launched the "Lexan EXL AMHI240F" filament, which is based on Sabic’s Lexan EXL polycarbonate copolymer technology. It is the first of several new materials with distinctive performance characteristics the company plans to launch in 2018.

The product is also the first Lexan EXL-based filament commercially available for use in Stratasys' "Fortus Classic" industrial printers. The material supplements the portfolio of six filament products for Fortus Classic printers that Sabic launched in May 2017.

The filament features a high level of toughness as well as improved ductility at room temperature and even at temperatures down to -30 °C. It delivers up to four times better notched Izod impact strength at room temperature, and up to three times better at -30 °C, depending on print orientation.

Given its heat deflection temperature of 140 °C, which is higher than that of general-purpose ABS filaments, the new product is suitable for applications that operate at elevated temperatures, such as those in the aerospace, consumer electronics and automotive industries. The filament also complies with Underwriters Laboratories’ (UL, Northbrook, Illinois / USA; www.ul.com) UL94 V-0 flammability standard at 3.0 mm in flat (XY) and on-edge (XZ) orientations.