German specialty chemicals company Evonik has announced that its portfolio of 3D printing materials has been rebranded under the name INFINAM.
The move sees all the firm’s ready-to-use resins and filaments, regardless of delivery form or technological application, marketed under the same brand, with the exception of its biomaterial product lines. Evonik’s new marque is said to reflect the “infinite 3D applications,” provided by its printing materials, and the company views the INFINAM name as an important step towards establishing its brand in the marketplace.
“Along with our key visual and our promise (“Infinity meets reality”) of opening up infinite 3D applications with Evonik materials, the new product brand plays an essential role as the final element in our unique market identity,” said Thomas Große-Puppendahl, Head of the Additive Manufacturing innovation growth field at Evonik.
“INFINAM gives our customers and partners clear orientation within our product landscape for additive manufacturing.”
Evonik’s extended 3D printing product portfolio
Although Evonik is known as one of the world’s largest chemical firms, its product offering now includes 3D software, as well as a broad range of printing polymers that it manufactures under its Smart Materials division. The company presently operates in over 100 countries, and last year, it generated €3.4 billion in revenue from its materials business alone.
Within its current portfolio, Evonik offers a range of thermoplastic and polyamide printing powders that have been specifically designed for use within the Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) process. The company has continually sought to expand on its polymeric material business in recent years, and it increased the production of its VESTOSTINT powders by 50 percent in February 2018 to meet demand.
Later, in June 2019, Evonik partnered with Evolve Additive Solutions to develop a range of thermoplastics for Evolve’s Selective Thermoplastic Electrophotographic Process (STEP) technology. This was followed by a collaboration with 3D printer manufacturer voxeljet, which aimed to create a new powder-binder system to enable the production of polymer parts for industrial applications.
More recently, the company launched its first software optimization tool for 3D printing, and developed a number of medical materials for use within the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) printing process. Evonik released its new RESOMER powder in February 2020, which featured stress shielding capabilities to prevent bone loss, and this was later followed by a PEEK filament with certification for surgical use.
Interestingly, Evonik has chosen to keep its medical-grade materials separate from the rest of its portfolio, but in the next stage of its additive expansion, the rest of its polymers will now be identified under the same brand.
Evonik’s new INFINAM range of materials
Evonik’s decision to rebrand its 3D printing material portfolio follows a spate of new product launches from the firm over the last year, and reflects its desire to distinguish itself in an increasingly crowded market.
As part of the relaunch, the company’s INFINAM line now covers its polyether ether ketone (PEEK), impact-resistant photopolymer (TI) and its thermoplastic copolyester (TPC) and amide (TPA) printing materials. In order to distinguish between INFINAM’s different product types, the brand name will be suffixed by the relevant class of material i.e. Evonik’s PEEK materials will be known as INFINAM TPC.
The firm has renamed almost its entire portfolio of materials, with the exception of its biomaterials, which will retain their original monikers. Evonik’s VESTAKEEP plastic implants and RESOMER line of bioresorbable filaments, powders, and granules for instance, have been excluded from the transfer to the INFINAM brand.
Given that its VESTAKEEP and RESOMER polymers are subject to strict medical standards and specifications, the company sees their difference as valuable, and has opted to keep them separate for this reason.
Evonik began releasing its latest range of 3D printing materials last year, and following the launch of INFINAM, the firm plans to introduce its first “ready-to-use photopolymer” in the next few months.
The company has also expanded on its level of technical expertise via the recent opening of its development center in Austin Texas. Moving forwards, Evonik aims to combine its new facility with its INFINAM range to set “additional standards in material quality and performance in 3D printing.”
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Featured image shows an Evonik scientist working with a 3D printer. Photo via Evonik.
