3D printing of high performance polymers for Industry & SME’s

1 minute read

Royal NLR and Ultimaker start collaboration on printing high performance (fibre) reinforced polymers. NLR’s Smart Industry field lab for Automated Composites, Metal Manufacturing and Maintenance ACM3, supports companies in the development of lightweight systems made of composite materials and/or metal. Additive manufacturing of high performance metals and polymers is one of the key areas ACM3 is focusing on.

Ultimaker, the global leader in desktop 3D printing, has an open material strategy which makes it possible to print applications with different materials with specific properties such as heat, impact and chemical resistance, flexibility, strength and more. Ultimaker 3rd party material suppliers deliver a wide range of reinforced (e.g. carbon or glass fibre) high performance plastics. These materials are delivered with optimised printing profiles from the Ultimaker Marketplace.

Besides processing fibre reinforced composites and additive manufacturing of high performance metals like aluminium, titanium, magnesium and inconel, ACM3 is expanding its reach on additive manufacturing by printing high performance (fibre reinforced) polymers like PEEK and PEKK and metal filaments. It is for this reason that NLR and Ultimaker decided to collaborate on this topic.

The collaboration will focus on improving the processability and material properties of these materials and will address topics like reproducibility and printing accuracy.

This combination of NLR industrialisation expertise and Ultimaker print process knowledge will open up new possibilities for creating strong, multifunctional and lightweight parts. It will contribute to the establishment of 3D printing as a mature manufacturing technology, which can be made available to SME’s and industry.

NLR and Ultimaker team with the Ultimaker S5 professional 3D printer

Latest news

NLR corporate

09 April 2025

Welcome to our new website

Welcome to our new website Discover our research and developments presented in a modern and contemporary way. Our experts work on innovative projects every day to make air and space travel safer, more sustainable, and efficient. We’re pleased to share our expertise and knowledge with you about our projects and research, including the insights, developments, […]
Sustainability and Environment

14 March 2025

NLR and Cryoworld collaborate on flying with liquid hydrogen

NLR aims to achieve manned flight on liquid hydrogen in the near future. To make this possible, NLR will modify its electric-powered research aircraft, the Pipistrel Velis Electro, to include a hydrogen propulsion system. In December 2024, NLR took a significant step by partnering with zepp.solutions to develop a fuel cell system that can convert […]
Defence and Security

06 February 2025

German Armed Forces drone flies through European upper airspace for the time

A German Heron TP drone of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) has flown from Schleswig in Germany to Leeuwarden in the Netherlands and back again. The flight was the first in Europe to take place in upper airspace. It was conducted as part of a research project by the European Defence Agency (EDA), which aims […]