EOTECH USES SOMOS® PROTOFUNCTIONAL® RESINS FOR PROTOTYPING HOLOGRAPHIC GUNSIGHT

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EOTECH USES SOMOS® PROTOFUNCTIONAL® RESINS FOR PROTOTYPING HOLOGRAPHIC GUNSIGHT
25 May 2001 - DSM Somos

EOTech Inc. Ann Arbor Michigan, has utilized several new generation ProtoFunctional® resins, DSM Somos® 9100 and DSM Somos® 7100, to produce prototype models of the main housing component for its new Holographic Diffraction Sight.

The HOLOgraphic sight is a revolutionary breakthrough in optical sighting systems. The HOLOgraphic sight delivers unparalleled and repeatable accuracy, instant alignment confirmation, huge gains in low light visibility, and integral range finding- all within one sighting system.

The development cycle of only 9 months was achieved by utilizing 3D modelling techniques using SDRC IDEAS software and 3D stereolithography utilizing DSM Somos® ProtoFunctional® resins. Several models were constructed to check fit, function, for the review of tooling design, for the packaging requirements and photo shoots for the packaging.

Somos® 9100 was chosen because it replicates polypropylene’s tensile strength and elongation at yield, thereby enabling EOTech and its service bureau, Morris Technologies (www.morristech.com), Cincinnati, Ohio, to accurately test form and function. The resins in the Somos® 9100 series are high-speed liquid photopolymers that produce robust, functional, and accurate parts using sterolithography machines.

Each resin has a wide processing latitude and excellent tolerance to a broad temperature and humidity range during and after build as well as offering superior chemical resistance. The Somos® 9100 series offers a good balance of properties between rigidity and functionality. These materials are especially useful in applications where durability and robustness are critical requirements, such as automobile components, electronic housings, medical products, large panels and snap-fit parts.

The Somos® 7100 series, also used, is a humidity-tolerant, high heat-deflection-temperature, low curl, high-speed liquid that produces rigid, minimal bubble, high accuracy parts. It produces exceptional, undistorted, thin walls and down-facing surfaces and exhibits good processing latitude.

A true diversity of technology is built into the HOLOsight , making it easy to use, durable, and cost effective for the users. For example: today’s F-14 Tomcats use holographic heads-up displays for proven target acquisition and fire control systems. The patented HOLOgraphic sight adapts this technology from the fighter jockey’s cockpit and delivers it to the shooter. The use of high tech lasers, optics, electronics, and rugged injection molded components, is unparalleled in the gun and archery sight industry. Because the sight is mounted on firearms that produce tremendous and repetitive recoil shock (shock loads in excess of 3000 g’s), all of the injection molded components are designed to be tough and very precise while keeping costs low.

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About: DSM Somos
DSM Somos is an unincorporated division of DSM Desotech—a world leader in the development of UV-curable materials—and a member of the global DSM family.

DSM Somos is currently the world's second largest materials supplier to the rapid prototyping industry, providing stereolithography liquids and
selective laser sintering powders used for the creation of three dimensional models and prototypes directly from digital data. Somos' patented ProtoFunctional materials are used by a variety of industries, including automotive, aerospace, medical and telecommunications.

DSM Somos has developed a full line of rapid prototyping materials that replicate the performance parameters of production materials, saving both time and money in new product development. From thermoplastic elastomers to polyethylene and polypropylene, DSM Somos has stereolithography and selective laser sintering technologies.

The Somos business has been actively involved in the development of rapid prototyping materials since the late 1980s, from the introduction of the first commercial Somos stereolithography resin in 1992.

DSM Somos is part of DSM Desotech, a leading innovative formulator and manufacturer of high quality ultraviolet and electron beam (UV/EB) curable materials.

DSM Desotech is a business unit of DSM - an international chemicals and materials group headquartered in The Netherlands, with annual sales of EUR 8.1 billion and a work force of approximately 22,000 employees at more than 200 sites worldwide.

DSM is active worldwide in life science and nutritional products, performance materials and industrial chemicals. The company specializes in innovative products and services that help improve the quality of life and DSM products are currently used in a wide range of end markets and applications such as human and animal nutrition and health, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, automotive and transport, coatings, housing and electrics & electronics (E&E). The group has annual sales (pro forma including the recent acquisition - renamed DSM Nutritional Products) of approximately EUR 8 billion and employs about 26,000 people around the world. Ranking among the global leaders in many of its fields, DSM is headquartered in the Netherlands, with locations in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

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