In recent years, 3D printing has increasingly shifted from prototyping and sample production to more industrial end-use manufacturing. Materials used in 3D printing have also changed from commodity polymers to engineering polymers and all the way to high-performance polymers. As the range of materials become more and more efficient, it sets the same high-performance requirements for the 3D printers themselves.
If you seek to utilise the entire range of materials reliably and with high quality, you need a heated chamber 3D printer, whose chamber can be heated up to 250C. The miniFactory Ultra 3D printer has been developed and optimised for 3D printing of specialty plastics and, despite extreme processing temperatures, users can safely manufacture parts with the world's top-performing polymers and polymer composites.
Heated chamber 3D printer enables 3D printing of engineering and high-performance polymers with the same high quality as PLA materials print at room temperature. The higher the temperature in the heated chamber, the larger the material range that can be printed. The heated chamber is simply intended to keep the printable piece at an optimal temperature throughout the printing process and, therefore, ensure that the part is built uniformly without the generation of internal stresses. The optimum chamber temperature used for printing amorphous polymers – e.g., ULTEM1010, ULTEM9085, PPSU, TPI, PEKK-A or PC – lies close to the glass transition temperature of the material.
When the printing chamber is heated close to that temperature, it ensures that the material remains relax and free of internal tension throughout manufacturing. As the part is slowly and evenly cooled after printing, it yields the best dimensional accuracy and mechanical durability for the printed part. In the miniFactory Industrial 3D printers, the printing chamber can be heated up to 250C, which opens an extremely wide range of materials for our customers. The temperature of the heated chamber is the most important feature in 3D printers when evaluating the range of high-performance polymers that can be printed with high quality.
Roughly speaking, polymers can be divided into three groups, commodity polymers, engineering polymers, and high-performance polymers. For commodity polymers such as PLA and PETG, a printing chamber is practically not required. For engineering polymers such as ASA or ABS, however, the printing chamber temperature should reach about 85C. As for PC, it requires approximitely 130C in the chamber to ensure optimal print quality. When moving from this to high-performance polymers, chamber temperature requirements increase significantly.
PEKK-A can be optimally printed in a chamber of approx. 150C, but ULTEM 9085 requires 180C. As we consider other materials such as ULTEM1010, PSU, PPSU, or TPI, chamber temperature requirements rise up to 215-240C. The miniFactory Ultra comes with ready-made, optimised printing profiles for the most well-known high-performance and engineering polymers. Users can also add new materials to the device at any time, either independently or with our help.
The optimum temperature for the heated chamber is Glass transition temperature (Tg) of the used polymer. The heated chamber is the most important feature when looking for the best result.
Optimum chamber temperatures for some high-performance polymers:
Printing chamber temperature is close/above polymers Tg:
miniFactory Industrial 3D printers enables high-quality printing on a wide range of materials, as the heated chamber can be heated up to 250C. Thanks to our advanced technology, the chamber reaches 250C in under 30 minutes. This allows you to start printing quickly, avoiding long preheating times. Thanks to our open material system, users do not pay annual license fees for materials used. Furthermore, there are several materials at your disposal compared to locked systems. Thus, with one and the same device, you can print the entire spectrum of materials up to 50% cheaper than with devices tied to the manufacturer's own, usually significantly more expensive materials.
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