About
Background
As the cost of 3D printers decrease, experts now believe that the real driving force for accessible and low-cost 3D printing will be lead by material selection. Currently, many of these materials are petroleum-based and renewable alternatives are not broad enough to meet the scope of consumers. There is a gap that needs to be filled. This is where we can help. S3D Innovations has developed a new material called FilaSoy. FilaSoy is a innovative soy-based filament primarily used for 3D printing and can be used for other applications in the plastic/ thermoplastic industry. The key advancement is in the soy extracted components in our product. Using soy-based components we have enhanced and refined the filament properties for 3D printing. Our product has been completely tested and is ready for use.
Benefits
There are many benefits to FilaSoy over currently available filaments. The melting temperature of FilaSoy is lower than other filaments in the market, which saves energy costs. It also has a higher Young’s modulus than PLA (a common filament used for 3D printing) for greater resistance to deformation. This allows users to create a wide variety of products such as toys, specialty parts, models, art, and more. The concept of FilaSoy is not simply to generate a generic material for the currently available products. FilaSoy also brings a renewable, cost effective product (soy) as an additive to the current available market while changing the properties of the material for other purposes and significantly reducing the cost of production. Since FilaSoy is renewable and derived from plant matter, it is green, recyclable, and maintains superior quality.
Choose Soy
The main function of the soy additive to PLA is that it will have the similar properties of PLA but with the added benefit of soy which reduces the brittleness and keeping the filament renewable. There is a huge interest in the plastic industry to develop new biopolymers and additives to enhance PLA. Additive manufacturers have been working towards developing a solution to some chronic limitations of PLA and other biopolymers which include susceptibility to degradation, loss of properties during processing, and reprocessing. Also, bio-based polymers and blends have less flexibility in polymer design such as copolymers. Additionally, biopolymers require additives that do not inhibit compostability and recycling.
This is where soy will come into play. It will reduce brittleness without affecting any of the other properties mentioned previously. Best of all, the soy additive itself is renewable. This is especially important for end use and for manufacturing because brittle materials break during thermoforming. The biggest strength of a soy-based 3D printer filament is that it comes from a naturally occurring source and thus reduces its ecological footprint. In addition to being ecofriendly, the mechanical properties can be enhanced in a green and renewable way without affecting its recyclability. Soy also has anti-microbial properties and can be advantageous in children’s toys and other products that are in contact with germs.