Amid the jostling for a prominent position in the growing 3D printing sector, another partnership between a chemical company and an additives specialist has been formed.

German specialty chemicals and plastics producer Evonik said this week it had signed a joint development agreement with Evolve Additive Solutions of the US with the goal of formulating Evonik’s engineering thermoplastic for use with Evolve's STEP additive manufacturing solutions.

The collaboration will initially focus on adapting PA 12, PEBA, transparent PA and the PA 6 range to offer STEP users a wider range of 3D materials to leverage for producing traditional products.

Evonik said Evolve’s selective thermoplastic electrophotographic technology, expected to be reach the commercial stage in late 2020 can complement traditional manufacturing processes such as injection molding on the manufacturing floor. This “toolless” production alternative should give manufacturers more design freedom of and shorten the time to market, it added.

Evolve's “entirely new technology approach” will give the Essen-based chemical producer with more than 20 years of experience in 3D printing a much wider range, said Thomas Grosse-Puppendahl, head of the additive manufacturing innovation growth field.

Steve Chillscyzn, CEO of Evolve Additive Solutions, which is based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, said the collaboration with will enable his company not only  to broaden its spectrum of STEP materials to include materials currently accepted by OEMs from additive manufacturing, but more importantly to debut a whole new set of materials opening up more applications that can take advantage of everything additive manufacturing offers.