Axtra3D Inc. of the United States and France's Arkema Group Complete Flame-Retardant Resin Certification

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 9, Axtra3D Inc. of the United States and France's Arkema Group announced that Arkema's N3xtDimension N3D-FR512 flame-retardant photosensitive resin has obtained UL Blue Card certification and is suitable for the Axtra3D Lumia X1 high-speed stereolithography (SLA) system. This certification involves third-party performance evaluation for specific materials, printing equipment, and processing conditions, providing validated material performance data for 3D printing of functional parts such as electronic connectors, insulating structures, electronic equipment housings, and industrial control components.

N3D-FR512 is a flame-retardant photosensitive resin that does not actively add halogens, combining relatively high stiffness and heat resistance. According to technical data published by both parties, the material has a tensile modulus of 5100 MPa, a tensile strength of 42 MPa, an elongation at break of 4.2%, and a heat deflection temperature of 170 degrees Celsius under a load of 0.455 MPa. The material's flame-retardant rating is UL 94 V-0 at a test thickness of 0.8 mm, making it suitable for rigid functional parts that require flame retardancy, dimensional stability, and thermal performance.

The printing equipment covered by this certification is the Axtra3D Lumia X1. This equipment adopts Hybrid PhotoSynthesis (HPS) technology, in which a precision laser and a digital light processing (DLP) projection system expose simultaneously, causing the photosensitive resin to be acted upon by two light sources in the same printing process. The equipment also incorporates TruLayer layer separation technology to improve the print layer detachment process, increasing production efficiency while maintaining detail precision and surface quality. Axtra3D states that its related technology combination can achieve up to approximately 20 times the printing throughput improvement compared with traditional solutions.

UL Blue Card belongs to the UL Solutions plastics additive manufacturing certification program, which mainly conducts third-party evaluation of the performance of 3D printing materials under specified equipment and processing parameters, providing test documentation for flame retardancy and other safety and performance indicators. Unlike performance parameters published solely by material suppliers themselves, the Blue Card can provide equipment manufacturers, material suppliers, and component buyers with a unified technical reference, reducing repetitive testing work during material selection and product development stages.

The potential applications listed by both parties include electrical connectors, terminals, circuit protection components, electronic equipment housings, cable management structures, automotive electrical components, and industrial control enclosures. These products typically feature complex structures, customized specifications, and small-batch production. The use of photopolymerization additive manufacturing can reduce investment in dedicated molds and shorten the development cycle for specially structured parts.