This week we’re excited to introduce BMF TOUGH, the newest member of the BMF resin portfolio. Compatible with all microArch systems, this photocurable resin boasts excellent toughness, great printability, and the capacity to produce end-use parts. Since BMF’s founding 4 years ago, we have worked to continuously improve our material offerings and TOUGH is the latest reflection of that. In the past, BMF customers have used the microArch platform primarily for prototyping applications, and our material portfolio has supported that. Now, more and more BMF customers are moving towards production applications using the microArch platform, and TOUGH meets that growing demand.
TOUGH exhibits high strength, elongation, and rigidity, with low brittleness. This makes it a great material for applications in the electrical connector and housings space where toughness and durability are key. It also works well for snap-fits and other applications requiring repeated bending. TOUGH features good aging properties compared to prototyping resins. In addition, it has a low viscosity making it fast to print with and easy to handle on any microArch system with or without adding heat. Like many of the resins in our portfolio, TOUGH can achieve resolution down to 2μm with tolerances as low as +/- 10μm, making it suitable for applications with even the finest micro-features.
A current challenge with producing micro scale electrical connectors and housings is the high cost and long lead time to produce tooling. Using the microArch platform to produce parts, the per part cost is significantly lower and the lead time is reduced from months to hours or days.
TOUGH’s superior mechanical and aging properties, combined with its high print speed and low per-part cost, make TOUGH a competitive option for producing end use parts.
Tough is available for shipping to BMF customers worldwide beginning this week.
For more information on TOUGH, please visit our materials page or contact us here.
