- German 3D printing system manufacturer dp polar to be acquired by
3D Systems Corporation - Specialty chemicals group ALTANA to further develop its revolutionary Cubic Ink® 3D printing material product families
Wesel, August 8, 2022 – ALTANA, a global leader in true specialty chemicals, today announced the sale of its stake in the 3D printing systems manufacturer dp polar, to 3D Systems, a leading Additive Manufacturing solutions partner, that has brought the innovation of 3D printing to the manufacturing industry more than thirty years ago. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
As a specialty chemicals company with a core competence in innovative printing material development, ALTANA will continue to further advance and expand its revolutionary, manufacturer-independent Cubic Ink® 3D printing product families for material jetting.
ALTANA had invested in dp polar in 2017. During the partnership, the start-up, based in Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen near Karlsruhe, Germany, had worked closely together with ALTANA to develop the world’s first 3D printing systems with a continuously rotating print platform, the AMpolar® machine generation for material jetting.
“We were happy to support dp polar both as an investor and as a development partner over the last five years and thank dp polar and its teams for the successful cooperation. The close teamwork between mechanical engineering, machine development, and material development made it possible to create new opportunities for serial production in additive manufacturing and develop individual solutions for our customers and their specific requirements”, says Dr. Petra Severit, Chief Technology Officer of ALTANA AG. “Now it’s time for dp polar to move ahead to a new growth stage with an industry partner such as 3D Systems specialized in 3d printing hardware, while our customers will continue to benefit from our great solution expertise in the development of innovative resilient high-performance materials as well as our experience in the formulation of high-performance inkjet inks.”
The Cubic Ink® printing material families by ALTANA AG, with two new resin-based product groups presented this spring, are designed for industrial production, offering unprecedented high heat resistance, toughness, and flexibility, among other things, in the inkjet material segment. In particular, the resin portfolio for manufacturer-independent applications serves any resin-based 3D printing technology. The product profile is intended for the end application – special focus is placed on aging and chemical resistance in particular. The low viscosity of the resins, among other things, permits reliable processing in time- and cost-efficient printing processes for high-performance products. Printing properties and processes can be individually adapted depending on the printer and customer requirements.
Cubic Ink® is part of a range of applications of ALTANA AG’s pioneering solutions for industrial 3D printing. For example, ALTANA extended its portfolio in 3D printing materials by acquiring the business of TLS Technik GmbH & Co Spezialpulver KG and the British company Aluminium Materials Technologies Ltd. (AMT).
Cubic Ink® materials: technical data sheets and more at
www.altana.com/cubic-ink
About ALTANA:
ALTANA is a global leader in true specialty chemicals. The Group offers innovative, environmentally compatible solutions for coating manufacturers, paint and plastics processors, the printing and packaging industries, the cosmetics sector, and the electrical and electronics industry. The product range includes additives, specialty coatings and adhesives, effect pigments, sealants and compounds, impregnating resins and varnishes, and testing and measuring instruments. ALTANA’s four divisions, BYK, ECKART, ELANTAS, and ACTEGA, all occupy a leading position in their target markets with respect to quality, product solution expertise, innovation, and service.
Headquartered in Wesel, Germany, the ALTANA Group has 48 production facilities and 65 service and research laboratories worldwide. Throughout the Group, more than 6,700 people work to ensure the worldwide success of ALTANA. In 2021, ALTANA achieved sales of around € 2.7 billion. About 7 percent of the total sales is invested in research and development each year. Its high earning power and high growth rate make ALTANA one of the world’s most innovative, fastest growing, and most profitable chemical companies.