17 January 2019
ABOUT STRUCTURED POLYMERS INC.
Structured Polymers was founded in 2012 in Austin, Texas,
to innovate and commercialize
new polymer powders for
additive manufacturing processes
including multi-jet fusion and select laser sintering.
The team, led by founders
Dr. Vikram Devarajan, Dr. Jim Mikulak,
and Dr. Carl Deckard, along with
a highly talented engineering team led by
Dr. Abhimanyu Bhat, created
a proprietary scalable process
for commercializing high-performance polymer powders
and is committed to expanding
the availability of materials for 3D-printing.
DETAILS
Evonik has acquired
a US-based technology startup
for 3D printing materials
headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA.
A corresponding agreement and plan of merger
was executed and the transaction
has been closed recently.
The acquisition will provide Evonik access
to a new patented technology
that will allow the company to expand
its portfolio of specialty polymer powders
in the additive manufacturing market.
Structured Polymers will be entirely integrated into
Evonik’s North American organization,
while its company headquarters will remain
in Austin, Texas.
Evonik already laid the foundations
for an acquisition of the technology startup
in the fall of 2017 through a venture capital investment.
New technology for 3D printing materials
Structured Polymers’ innovative technology
starts with a polymer granulate, which is converted
to a fine powder through various process steps.
This makes it possible to produce polymer powders
with controlled particle sizes ranging in diameter
between 0.1 and 400 µm,
while achieving excellent material properties.
The 3D printing market is booming
with double-digit growth rates.
Within this market, Evonik is the world’s leading
manufacturer of polyamide (PA) 12 powders,
which have been used in additive production technologies
for over 20 years.
In addition to its PEEK filament and PA 12 powders,
the company’s product portfolio also includes
flexible PEBA powders and
a wide array of additives such as
dispersing agents, flow enhancers, and reactive modifiers.
Thomas Grosse-Puppendahl,
The head of
the Additive Manufacturing Innovation Growth Field
at Evonik
"The new technology allows us
to take virtually any semi-crystalline thermoplastic,
such as
polybutylene terephthalate,
polyether ketone, or polyamide 6,
or polymer powders
with specialized properties like
color, conductivity, or flame protection,
and produce them
for common powder-based 3D printing processes,
such as
selective laser sintering,
high-speed sintering, or multi-jet fusion,”
“In addition, we anticipate that
Structured Polymers’ technology
can be scaled up easily and economically.”
Vikram Devarajan,
CEO of Structured Polymers Inc.
“We are very pleased to harness the power of Evonik
to expand our innovative technology platform even further.
In the near future, this will allow us
to diversify the 3D printing materials market
to a significant degree and to work with
our customers on
developing new business opportunities,”
Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH
Rellinghauser Straße 1-11
45128 Essen
Phone +49 201 177-01
Fax +49 201 177-3475
www.evonik.com
Supervisory Board
Dr. Harald Schwager,
Chairman
Managing Directors
Dr. Claus Rettig,Chairman
Dr. Johannes Ohmer
Simone Hildmann
Alexandra Schwarz
Registered Office: Essen
Register Court : Essen Local Court
Commercial Registry B 25783
VAT ID no. DE 815528487
Specialized Press Contact
Janusz Berger
High Performance Polymers
Phone +49 2365 49-9227
janusz.berger@evonik.com
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