New Fortus Support Material Helps Make FDM Prototypes and Production Parts Faster

SR-30 Soluble Support Material Available for Select Fortus Systems

MINNEAPOLIS - Fortus 3D Production Systems, a brand of Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS) today announced the availability of SR-30, a new soluble support material for use with ABS-M30 and ABS-M30i thermoplastics. The material provides faster dissolve-times for the FDM additive fabrication process.

Compared with its predecessor (SR-20) the new SR-30 support material delivers a 69 percent reduction in dissolve time in an agitation tank, and a 46 percent dissolve time reduction in an ultrasonic tank, on average. SR-30 is initially compatible with two of the company’s additive fabrication machines – the Fortus 360mc™and Fortus 400mc,™ (formerly FDM 360mc and FDM 400mc).

“Fortus has a goal to improve throughput in all stages of the additive fabrication process, from loading the STL file to post processing,” says Fortus product manager Patrick Robb. “This new SR-30 formulation offers a real improvement in post-processing time. And the material saves more than just time. The time-savings translate to lower production costs as well. Using FDM with the new SR-30, engineers can create prototypes, manufacturing tools, and production parts faster than before.”

Direct digital manufacturing (DDM) is the process of producing parts directly from CAD data using additive fabrication. Performing DDM with Fortus 3D Production Systems brings great efficiencies to the production of manufacturing tools, such as jigs and fixtures, as well as low-volume manufacturing of end-use parts.

Information including specifications on the new material is available at Fortus SR-30.

Fortus is a brand of Stratasys, Inc. Formerly known as the FDM Group, Fortus offers a line of 3D production systems used for direct digital manufacturing and precision rapid prototyping. Fortus systems create manufactured goods and prototypes from industrial thermoplastics, including ABS plastic, polycarbonate, PPSF, blends, and ULTEM* 9085. On the Web: www.Fortus.com

Stratasys, Inc., Minneapolis, manufactures additive fabrication machines for prototyping and manufacturing plastic parts. The company also operates a service for part prototyping and production. According to Wohlers Report 2008, Stratasys supplied 44 percent of all additive fabrication systems installed worldwide in 2007, making it the unit market leader for the sixth consecutive year. Stratasys patented and owns the process known as FDM.® The process creates functional prototypes and manufactured goods directly from any 3D CAD program, using high-performance industrial thermoplastics. The company holds more than 180 granted or pending additive fabrication patents globally. Stratasys products are used in the aerospace, defense, automotive, medical, business & industrial equipment, education, architecture, and consumer-product industries.