New igus SLS material for electro-statically conductive wear-resistant parts from the 3D printer

May 15, 2020 12:51 pm

Lubrication-free tribo-polymer iglidur I8-ESD enables the cost-effective manufacture of durable special parts with no minimum order quantity

For safe and reliable production in the electronics and semiconductor industry, components are required that have electro-statically conductive properties. This is because even a small electric shock can destroy expensive production lines. igus has now developed a new stable material for the SLS method so that users can make their wearing parts with ESD properties flexibly and cost-effectively. The lubrication-free special parts made of iglidur I8-ESD can be printed and shipped with in just few days.

Wear-resistant parts in the electronics and semiconductor industry are not only required to have a long service life but must also be electro-statically conductive, because a surge of electrostatic charge that is not dissipated byan insulating material can easily destroy the product. For the fast additive manufacture of electro-statically conductive special parts, igus has now developed a new iglidur tribo-polymer. iglidur I8-ESD is the third material that igus offers for the SLS method. The advantages of this method are evident:the user has a great deal of design freedom and can make the component without any tool costs. Moreover, no plastic waste is produced as the excess powder can be used several times and printed parts can be recycled. The parts made of the new SLS powder – like all igus materials – need no additional lubrication and are very structurally stable. "With iglidur I8-ESD, wenow include a tribo-polymer in our product range that has a resistance of 3×10 7 Ω x cm. In addition, the material is inherently black. As a result,subsequent colouring is not necessary, whereby costs are lowered and the delivery time is improved" explains Tom Krause, Head of Business Unit Additive Manufacturing at igus GmbH. "The user receives a very durable component that comes with all the desirable ESD properties