Stratasys opens its 3D printers to filaments from external suppliers

The largest 3D printing fair in the world – Formnext – took place last week. In the flood of press materials informing about the premieres of individual 3D printers, consumables or the acquisitions of some companies by others announced during the fair, we have lost a bit of information that would otherwise be the event of the month! Here is Stratasys – the creator of the world’s most popular FDM technology, and at the same time one of the largest players on the additive technology market, has announced that after more than 30 years it will allow users of its 3D printers to legally use materials from other suppliers.

Of course, in this sensational news there is “a hair in the soup”… Stratasys will allow the use of external materials under an annual Open Material license. In addition, users of the company’s industrial 3D printers will receive three levels of access to materials, differentiated in terms of their validation by the manufacturer.

The Stratasys material ecosystem includes:

• Stratasys Preferred: high-performance parts materials; developed by Stratasys or external partners of the company
• Stratasys approved: Manufacturer approved materials that have passed basic validation and reliability tests
• Open: unverified material available through the Open Material License (OML); may offer unique attributes and potential for new applications, but have not passed validation or optimization tests with regard to the performance and functionality of Stratasys 3D printers.

Stratasys approved materials will be available to FDM 3D printer customers in the second half of 2022, starting with the Fortus 450mc model. Information on available materials will be visible in the GrabCAD Print software. All Stratasys Preferred Materials and Approved Materials for Stratasys systems will be available for purchase through the company’s distributors and resellers.

Source: Stratasys press materials