14 DAY TRIAL // 3D printers started out with plastic, then moved up to resin and metal eventually. Now, tougher carbon-based materials are being employed at last.
Solvay Specialty Polymers has developed four materials based on carbon fiber and carbon nanotube. Or, rather, they are polymers reinforced with these substances.
The names of the materials are thus: KetaSpire PEEK, AvaSpire PAEK, Radel PPSU and PrimoSpire SRP.
The substances invented by Solvay Specialty Polymers have been used by Silicon Valley startup Arevo Labs to create lighter and stronger objects than before.
It had to invent some new extrusion technology and software to make it all work, but it's done and ready for action now.
The technology hasn't been patented yet, but a filing has been submitted.
According to Arevo Labs, KetaSpire PEEK, AvaSpire PAEK, Radel PPSU and PrimoSpire SRP can be used to make very complex shapes, resistant to high temperatures and chemicals.
It did mean that the extrusion technology had to be able to run hotter than normal, but that was to be expected. If this feat had been an easy one to achieve, it would have been achieved years before.
The aerospece industry will probably call dibs on the new technology, as will defense industries.
