Electronics

Additive Manufacturing in the Electronics Industry

Enhance electronics manufacturing with additive processes by enabling the rapid production of durable, precisely engineered housings that protect components while supporting complex designs and efficient production.

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Additive Manufacturing in the Electronics Industry

Challenges

What does the electronics sector demand – and what is our solution

ESD Protection | Flame Resistance & Emission Control

3D printing supports high-quality, ESD-safe, and flame-retardant components in the electronics sector by combining precisely tuned material formulations with complex geometry control. Through the selection and modification of polymers with conductive, dissipative, or flame-retardant additives, manufacturers can produce parts that actively prevent electrostatic discharge, reduce fire risks, and meet stringent industry safety standards. Unlike conventional manufacturing methods, 3D printing allows layer-by-layer control of material placement, enabling the creation of functionally graded parts in which specific areas are optimized for conductivity, mechanical strength, or thermal stability. In addition, 3D printing enables rapid prototyping and design testing to verify compliance with safety standards prior to series production. Digital design files and layer-by-layer manufacturing ensure traceability and repeatability, which are critical for regulatory documentation and audits.

Design Freedom and Customization

3D printing enables unprecedented design freedom and customization in the electronics sector, particularly in the creation of housings. Conventional manufacturing often limits shapes, assembly techniques, and aesthetic details due to tooling constraints and standardized production runs. Additive manufacturing eliminates these restrictions, allowing engineers and designers to create complex geometries, integrate multiple components into a single part, and optimize internal and external features for both performance and aesthetics. Each housing can be precisely tailored to its function, ensuring a perfect fit for specific electronics while maintaining superior mechanical and thermal properties. This flexibility extends to small-series or even single-unit production, enabling unique designs or rapid iterations without the cost and time penalties associated with tooling changes. The result is faster design cycles, lightweight yet robust parts, and a high degree of creative and functional freedom that transforms the development and production of electronics housings.

Miniaturization & Precision

In the electronics sector, components are becoming increasingly smaller, lighter, and more densely packed, without compromising performance or reliability. Miniaturization demands extremely tight dimensional tolerances, precise alignment of connectors, and exact spacing for high-density printed circuit boards (PCBs), microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), sensors, and semiconductor housings. Precision is critical, as even minor deviations can lead to electrical malfunctions – unacceptable for applications ranging from consumer electronics to aerospace and medical devices. 3D printing supports miniaturization and precision by enabling high-resolution, layer-by-layer manufacturing of complex components that would be difficult or impossible to produce using traditional milling or injection molding processes. Features such as fine channels or integrated support structures can be produced with micrometer-level accuracy.

ESD-Safe

Formula 1B is a rigid, static-dissipative photopolymer resin. It uses a urethane methacrylate base containing a stable dispersion of discrete functionalized carbon nanotubes (D'Func) to ensure uniform surface resistance and enhance key mechanical properties such as tensile strength, flexural strength, and impact resistance.

Formula 1b offers a combination of properties that make it particularly well-suited for ESD-safe electronics applications. It delivers a surface resistance in the range of 10⁶–10⁷ Ω and ensures isotropic electrostatic discharge in all directions, overcoming the anisotropy issues of conventional carbon-loaded resins. The material also demonstrates excellent chemical resistance to solvents, fuels, and cleaning agents, as well as high dimensional stability, making it ideal for tight-tolerance components. The durable mechanical properties, including stiffness and impact resistance, combined with a smooth surface finish, support precise assemblies and housings.

Properties

Surface Resistivity: 10⁶–10⁷ Ω
Tensile Strength: 95 MPa
Flexural Modulus: 3100 MPa
Impact Strength: 22 J/m

Use cases

Conformal coating masks
Carriers and housings for electronic components

High-Temperature ESD-Safe

C-Lite® is a high-temperature-resistant, static-dissipative photopolymer resin containing a stable dispersion of discrete functionalized carbon nanotubes (D'Func) to ensure consistent static-dissipative properties.

The manufactured components can withstand operating temperatures of up to 250 °C. The material offers isotropic ESD performance with a surface resistance of 10⁶–10⁷ Ω, ensuring uniform static dissipation in all directions. It supports high operating temperatures up to 250 °C, making it suitable for demanding electronics applications. It additionally delivers excellent surface quality with fine detail resolution, ideal for precision components and assemblies. Furthermore, it is non-outgassing and has successfully passed the NASA ASTM E595-77/84/90 outgassing tests.

Properties

Surface Resistivity: 10⁶–10⁷ Ω
Tensile Strength: 65 MPa
Elongation at Break: 3%
Flexural Strength: 100 MPa

Use cases

PCB tooling
High-temperature ESD carriers and pallets
Precision ESD safety fixtures

Ultra-Low Dielectric Loss

ATARU™ has been developed for exceptional high-temperature resistance and durability. ATARU™ also offers excellent surface quality and extremely low dielectric loss. The material exhibits robust mechanical properties that ensure stiffness and durability for precision electronic components. It features ultra-low dielectric losses, with Df and Dk values remaining minimal up to 40 GHz, making it ideal for high-frequency applications where signal integrity is critical.

Its thermal properties include a thermal conductivity of 0.28–0.31 W/m·K (25–100°C) and a specific heat capacity of 0.97–1.5 J/g·K, supporting efficient thermal management in electronic assemblies. The thermal performance is outstanding, with a glass transition temperature (Tg) and heat deflection temperature (HDT) above 300°C (IPC-TM-650, ISO 75-2).

Properties

Specific Heat Capacity: 0.97–1.5 J/g·K
Tensile Modulus: 5,640–5,790 MPa
Tensile Strength: 69–73 MPa
Elongation at Break: 1.9%

Use cases

Electronic connectors
High-frequency antennas
Molded parts under high pressure and temperature (carbon fiber molding)

Large ESD-Safe Components

Stratasys® ABS-ESD7 is a static-dissipative ABS thermoplastic developed for FDM 3D printing. It enables the production of large, dimensionally stable parts that safely dissipate static charge, making it ideal for electronics environments and the production of electronic products. ABS-ESD7 is based on standard ABS but is modified with carbon to ensure controlled surface and volume resistivity, while retaining the typical strength and stiffness of ABS.

The material is supplied for Fortus/FDM systems and is suitable for applications such as fixtures, brackets, housings, and handling devices for printed circuit boards, electronic modules, equipment, or processes involving powders and dust. The volume resistivity of ABS-ESD7 lies approximately between 10⁴ and 10⁹ Ω·cm, clearly placing it in the ESD-safe category – neither fully insulating nor fully conductive.

Properties

Surface Resistivity: 10⁶–10⁹ Ω
Tensile Strength: 36 MPa
Tensile Modulus: 2400 MPa
Flexural Strength: 61 MPa

Use cases

Housings and packaging materials for end-user validation
Large functional prototypes for electronic devices
Dust extraction components

Flexible ESD-Safe Components

3DXtech® TPU ESD is an engineering-grade thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer selected for its combination of excellent flexibility, ease of printing, chemical resistance, and toughness. The filament is formulated to deliver ESD-safe electrical conductivity, with a target surface resistance of 10²–10³ Ohm.

For the electronics industry, this makes it an ideal material wherever static discharge poses a risk to sensitive components. ESD-safe materials are essential for protecting sensitive electronics, ensuring industry compliance, and safeguarding mission-critical components in sectors like aerospace, defense, and automotive — while also reducing risks in high-stakes environments such as oil and gas.

What sets this material apart from rigid ESD alternatives is its flexibility. Key benefits include high elongation of over 300%, Shore 90A semi-flex hardness, excellent layer bonding, outstanding fatigue resistance, low moisture absorption, and the ability to retain flexibility even at low temperatures. This makes it well suited for cable management sleeves, flexible enclosures, protective covers, gaskets, and component trays used in electronics assembly lines.