Glass fibre producer Owens Corning (Toledo, Ohio / USA; www.owenscorning.com) has developed high-performance composite filaments for 3D printing. The filaments, branded “XStrand”, have been developed for functional prototyping and industrial applications and are available in two engineered polymers, as XStrand GF30-PP and XStrand GF30-PA6. Both contain 30% glass fibre and are intended for fused deposition modelling (FDM) and fused filament fabrication (FFF). Owens Corning says they have excellent layer adhesion and reduced warping effect compare to the neat materials.

The company has also launched a new hybrid glass/carbon fibre for structural and semi-structural applications in the automotive, marine, and sporting goods industries. The products were on display at the “JEC World 2018” trade fair earlier this month.