New Aquasys120 water-soluble support filament could open new era for extrusion 3D printing

Infinite Material Solutions has finally cracked one of filament extrusion 3D printing’s biggest challenges: the wider availability of fully water-soluble material that can work with advanced high-temperature thermoplastics such as PP and possibly even PEEK. This is the new AquaSys120 water-soluble support filament.

“We know the challenges of developing a material like this because we have been chasing this for many years at the request of industry leaders,” the company stated. “In order for a support material to be considered high-performance, we needed to address thermal stability at elevated temperatures, great adhesion to most materials, high-quality filament manufacturing with reliable and consistent printability, and exceptional  dissolution rates, all while being environmentally conscious.”

For as long as 3D printing has been around, manufacturers and developers have been looking for ways to streamline production for more efficient results. Although 3D printing has itself cut costs and created major advancements in material design, there are still limitations and costly processes that have remained a problem for manufacturing.

One of these has been the necessity to design and build with less than optimal support structures, hindering creativity and keeping post-production costs a major factor with many builds. Often, post-processing of 3D printed parts requires more labor and time than the printing of the part, creating bottlenecks and increased costs.

Dive into the market

Priced at 180 $/kg and available in both 2.85 and 1.75 mm diameters, AquaSys120 is designed to work with a wide range of engineering-grade 3D printing materials, enabling 3D printing of complex parts with ease, without compromising with other support structures. This makes it of course ideal for parts with internal cavities, where break-away support material could not be removed due to lack of access. This makes your build experience much less complicated and more plug-and-play regardless of the material you’re printing.

The key benefit of AquaSys 120 is its solubility, which significantly reduces finishing time for printed parts. In fact, AquaSys 120 has been proven to dissolve up to six times faster than the leading brand of PVA. And unlike other PVA or BVOH filament materials, AquaSys 120 is reportedly extremely stable at higher 3D printing chamber temperatures.

The material adheres to other 3D printing materials for better print quality and works very well with ABS, PC/ABS, nylon, TPU, CPE, PC, and PP filament. It ensures great stability even at higher printing temperatures, with materials such as PEEK and it dissolves in warm water, 6x faster than PVA. This means that no solvents are needed, making it environmentally safe and non-toxic.