DSM’s Glass-Filled Polypropylene for Demanding Applications

Royal DSM’s Arnilene AM6001 GF is a glass-filled polypropylene (PP) pellet material which has been developed especially for 3D printing, enabling easy and consistent production of structural and demanding applications using fused granulate fabrication technology.

According to the company, polypropylene is widely used for its mechanical, thermal and chemical performance, and is the second most frequently used polymer worldwide. Automotive, industrial or infrastructure manufacturers looking to adopt additive manufacturing (AM) technology for low-volume or decentralized production (where the elimination of tools helps decrease cost) may want to use the same material they are familiar with from traditional manufacturing.

To meet this growing need, DSM developed Arnilene AM6001 GF (G), a glass-filled PP for fused granulate fabrication (FGF) suitable for AM. It stems from the same base material used in high-volume production and is optimized for FGF 3D printing. DSM says it combined materials knowhow, expertise in modeling and simulation, design for AM (versus traditional manufacturing) and printing expertise to achieve all of the desirable mechanical, thermal and chemical performance of glass-filled PP with the flexibility of a proven 3D process.

The company says that Arnilene AM6001 GF (G) is well-suited for direct printing of structural, lightweight applications for automotive, infrastructure and water management, as well as tooling. DSM’s AM experts worked with equipment partners to validate the material on closed and open chamber build printers to optimize the material for FGF printing. The material’s low carbon footprint (due to reduced energy consumption) and its low Life Cycle Assessment (inherent to the PP’s chemistry) make it a sustainable solution.