PRESS RELEASE
Orlando, Florida, March 23, 2015
SABIC Announces Global Application Development
Focus to Advance Additive Manufacturing Technology
Leveraging its global technology centers in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Saudi Arabia, SABIC announced
that it is expanding the company’s application development focus in additive manufacturing technology. The
move further underscores SABIC’s commitment to this evolving technology that is pushing the industry to
rapidly develop new materials and processes that can help to achieve improved performance, complex designs,
enhanced aesthetics and more economical part builds. SABIC’s capabilities and experience in additive
manufacturing across a number of industries will enable it to work closely with technology innovators including
universities, research laboratories, printer manufacturers, OEMs and emerging technology companies to help
accelerate the advancements necessary for additive manufacturing to reach its full potential.
“The insights and technology developments coming from SABIC will deepen the understanding of the critical link
between materials, design, processing and part performance needed to expand the technology from functional
prototyping to real-world part production,” said Ernesto Occhiello, executive vice president, Technology &
Innovation at SABIC. “Continuing to invest in capabilities and equipment to support the development of high
performance materials for existing additive manufacturing processes as well as new, emerging technologies is a
key enabler of SABIC’s strategy to help our customers address their constant challenge of lowering the cost to
innovate and bring their designs to market more quickly.”
SABIC’s success with additive manufacturing has been driven in large part by the company’s holistic approach
to this technology. From a broad portfolio of high performance materials, to design and processing expertise, to
state-of-the-art equipment, SABIC provides a highly supportive research environment for material optimization,
testing and designing for additive manufacturing processes. SABIC’s investment in several industrial and
desktop printers, including the Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) printer used to print the world’s first 3Dprinted car, will help to facilitate process improvements in fused deposition modeling (FDM®) and other
extrusion-based printing processes.
Proven capabilities from prototyping to improved materials, processes and design using additive
manufacturing
Utilizing state-of-the-art thermoplastics processing technologies as part of the application development process
has always been a significant means for SABIC to help solve its customers’ toughest problems. Part teardown,
concept creation, mechanical design, CAE analysis, material evaluation, part performance simulation, testing
and advanced processing techniques are capabilities already in use at SABIC’s technology centers to serve
multiple industries. In a recent project to search for innovation and efficiencies in luminaire design and
production, SABIC used predictive engineering and 3D printing technology to create an integrated thermoplastic
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LED luminaire, highlighting the opportunity to reduce the number of parts by 84%, the total weight by 24% and
assembly time by 65%, compared to a conventional metal luminaire. SABIC was the enabler to help transform
an insightful idea into a potential cost competitive solution for the fast growing LED industry.
While at NPE2015, SABIC will be offering a technical seminar focused on the potential of additive
manufacturing technologies for the injection molding industry and the new space it provides for innovative
thinking in plastic application development and the related tooling. The seminar will demonstrate how 3D
printed metal tools for cavities and cores with conformal cooling designs have been utilized to achieve better
efficiencies and improved cycle times. Additionally, SABIC will be giving two presentations at the NPE3D
conference track of the SPI Business of Plastics Conference.
SABIC offers a range of materials for use in additive manufacturing today including:
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ULTEM™ 9085 resin most commonly used for aerospace applications. On display in SABIC’s booth will be
a 3D-printed economy class aircraft seat created as inspiration for future seat design and manufacturing
methods.
LNP™ THERMOCOMP™ compounds – a carbon fiber reinforced material most recently used in the printing
of Local Motors’ Strati vehicle which will be on display in SABIC’s booth.
CYCOLAC™ MG94 resin – an ABS material used by the maker community for fused filament fabrication
(FFF) printing.
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PHOTO CAPTION
The Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) printer from Cincinnati Inc. was used to print the world’s
first 3D-printed car – Local Motors’ Strati. The industrial size and speed of the printer enable large
parts to be printed quickly. The Strati was printed in 44 hours at IMTS in September 2014.
SABIC’s LNP™ THERMOCOMP™ carbon fiber reinforced compound was chosen for the world’s first
3D-printed vehicle, Local Motors’ Strati, at IMTS 2014 for its excellent strength-to-weight ratio and
high stiffness which minimizes warping during the 3D printing process, enabling enhanced aesthetics
and performance.
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3D Printed Economy Class Aircraft Seat Prototype
To inspire aircraft industry seating tiers to take a fresh look at seat design and fabrication, SABIC
licensed a Studio Gavari design for a sleek and ergonomically advanced seat. The seat was printed
by Stratasys, using SABIC’s ULTEM™ 9085 resin, which is highly compatible with 3D printing and
meets aircraft industry and OEM-specific heat release and flame, smoke and toxicity
requirements. The use of 3D printing enabled the rapid prototyping of the Studio Gavari design
without the expense of tooling, resulting in an economy class seat with less than 15 components,
demonstrating the potential for part consolidation and manufacturing efficiency.
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NOTES TO EDITORS
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SABIC and brands marked with ™ are trademarks of SABIC or its subsidiaries or affiliates.
High-resolution photos are available upon request
SABIC should be written in every instance in all uppercase
® FDM is a registered trademark of Stratasys, Ltd.
ABOUT SABIC
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks as the world’s second largest diversified chemical company.
The company is among the world’s market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other
advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
SABIC recorded a net profit of SR 23.3 billion (US$ 6.2 billion) in 2014. Sales revenues for 2014 totaled SR
188.1 billion (US$ 50.2 billion). Total assets stood at SR 340 billion (US$ 90.7 billion) at the end of 2014.
SABIC’s businesses are grouped into Chemicals, Polymers, Performance Chemicals, Fertilizers, Metals and
Innovative Plastics. SABIC has significant research resources with 19 dedicated Technology & Innovation
facilities in Saudi Arabia, the USA, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, India, China and South Korea. The company
operates in more than 45 countries across the world with around 40,000 employees worldwide.
SABIC manufactures on a global scale in Saudi Arabia, the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Headquartered in Riyadh, SABIC was founded in 1976 when the Saudi Arabian Government decided to use the
hydrocarbon gases associated with its oil production as the principal feedstock for production of chemicals,
polymers and fertilizers. The Saudi Arabian Government owns 70 percent of SABIC shares with the remaining
30 percent held by private investors in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
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SABIC Media Contacts
Deborah Kelley
E: [email protected]
T: +1 413-448-6706
Agency Media Contacts
Griff McNerney
E: [email protected]
T: +1 617-520-7106
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