Looking for commodity epoxies or ceramics

Dear All,

I'm thinking about printing various currently non-printable working parts for RepRap such as hot ends, mixers, etc. The printing process in itself is straightforward, syringe-based extruder and proper calibration can deliver high-quality prints. The only problem is to find more or less common substances like ceramics or epoxies that once cured obtain required properties.

In particular, I'm looking in the following materials:
- High heat-conductive ceramic/epoxy with working temperatures up to 300C, e.g. hot ends
- Low heat-conductive ceramic/epoxy with working temperatures up to 300C, e.g. hot ends insulation
- Highy durable ceramic/epoxy with working temperatures to 300C for moving parts, e.g. mixers, feeders

In order to be a feasible for home printing, a material has to have medium-to-high viscosity and has to cure in home or home-achievable temperatures (I believe, up to 400C).

I'm doing some research online to find suppliers for such materials in 'retail' quantities, but haven't made much progress so far. So I'm looking for an advice here, and I'd appreciate any information on whether such materials exist and where to find them.

Are there any ceramic materials (printable or not) that are good thermal insulators and also strong in elongation? They seem to be one or the other to me. I can't remember anybody using a ceramic insulator successfully.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

@nophead,

Well, silicon carbide is very hard and has low thermal conductivity. It would be ultimate material for laser sintering, but it's not printable. And it is suspected to be human carcinogen.

However, I'd be glad to find good thermal insulation ceramic regardless of whether it is strong in elongation or not.

Hi Igor,

... read through this threads: [forums.reprap.org]

And search in the forum for 'waterglass' and 'ceramic slurry' with [all dates] set - there was some testing and discussion around printing with ceramic paste using syringes ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

@Victor,

Thanks! In google age keywords are power

@Victor,

Alright, having done some searching I conclude that the idea with printed nozzles is recurring with periodicity of 1 year

It seems you've done lots of experiments with ceramic slurry indeed, and waterglass-based ceramic compounds definitely look promising. Although, I've got an impression that you weren't satisfied with the result. BTW, have you tried adding metal powder to get thermal conductivity?

I believe it is solid state chemistry theory that underpins the mixing, isn't it? Is there any particular textbook that you could recommend as a reference?

Hi Igor,

... i've made the tests mostly for fixing and sealing sensors in housing or to generate small ceramic parts capable of some hunderd centigrades ambient temperature ... actually not for our methods of 3D-printing.

For building 3D-objects out from different materials i'm experimenting with laser sintering - i's a sidepath of 3D-fabbing, so not much covered in the reprap-forum.

I've made some material tests and small ceramic parts, but this was made with special equipment, mostly not available in the market.

For common usability i'm working on available high-power diodelasers and materials - maybe some more infos and pictures in the next months ...

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]