Verbatim launches bio-friendly filament
5 Dec 2018 12:04

Verbatim has announced the launch of DURABIO filament for 3D FFF printing, a transparent bio-based engineering material developed by Mitsubishi Chemical which combines the properties of Polycarbonate (PC) and Polymethacrylate (PMMA). The result is a material that has excellent optical and mechanical properties, high heat, scratch and abrasion resistance and superb light transmission and UV resistance. The filament will be available in transparent and high gloss piano black and piano white.Mitsubishi Chemical originally developed DURABIO as a glass substitute and it has already been adopted in the automotive and mobile phone industries for items such as touch screens, console and dashboard trims and exterior radiator grilles.  DURABIO is BPA free and is based on a renewable source, using isosorbide as the main monomer, making it particularly attractive to environmentally aware customers. By making it available as a 3D printable material, designers can now more easily develop functioning models or prototypes using the same material that will be used for mass production.

 “Verbatim’s goal is to drive new markets within the 3D printing industry and a key part of this is the introduction of specialist 3D printing materials that have been developed by Mitsubishi Chemical with DURABIOTM being the latest exciting addition,” said Hidetaka Yabe, President of Verbatim GmbH.

Samples of DURABIO will be available at the FORMNEXT show for customer testing with mass volume shipments available from January 2019.  Other new products soon to be introduced by Verbatim include PET-G and high speed PLA.

Verbatim is a group company of Mitsubishi Chemical, one of the world’s largest chemical companies.

For almost 50 years, the Verbatim brand has been at the forefront of the evolution in data storage technology and remains one of the most recognisable and respected names in the industry.  Not only is Verbatim the world’s No 1 supplier of optical media (Blu-ray, DVD and CD), it also markets external hard drive storage solutions, SSDs, USB drives, memory cards, and a wide range of related accessories.

Verbatim also has a significant presence in the LED lighting market, where it develops and sells a wide range of LED lamps and luminaires for offices, hotels, restaurants and domestic use. Many of the lighting products have been developed by the Mitsubishi Chemical R&D team, resulting in LEDs with world class thermal management, high colour rendering and low glare.

Another Verbatim business category to have benefited from this development expertise is 3D Printing, where Verbatim has recently introduced a range of high quality filaments incorporating unique materials from Mitsubishi Chemical.

Prepared on the basis of information from Verbatim