We’re a producer for high purity ceramic powders, we produce these powders in various forms for different type of shaping processes. We are also known for our Zetamix line of product of ceramic and metal filaments for FDM printing.
What is FDM?
FDM stands for Fused Deposition Modeling. It’s a technology from 3D printing.
What are the available materials?
We print in ceramics and metal ; in ceramics, we have White Zirconia, Black Zirconia, Alumina and for metal, we provide 316L and H13. Zetamix also provides Silicon carbide, Porcelain and a wide range of Epsilon filaments.
What is a technical ceramics?
In contrast with ceramic arts and crafts, technical ceramic materials are used for cutting-edge applications.
Are you limited in the design of your parts?
No we aren’t, 3D printing your part gives you access to geometry that you can’t achieve with any other technology (e.g. hollow structures). For more information, you can read our design guide downloadable on the filament pages.
What types of FDM machine can use your filaments?
We recommend FDM machine using a direct feed system for their extruder. We also prefer machines using a Bondtech like extruder, this helps the feeding of the filament without putting to much strain of it.
Here are a couple of machine brands we back : Raise 3D, Prusa, FlashForge, 3NTR.
What is the maximum size of part that could be sintered in your furnace?
The maximum size is the size of the furnace (Zetasinter) which is 200x100diameter (mm).
Do you need a special nozzle since you are working with abrasive materials?
After testing, it was found that it was not necessary to print with any special nozzles. We would only recommend you to have on nozzle per material. If you wanted, you can change your nozzle every 2 spools.
Is an enclosed printing space needed?
This is not necessary but depending on your usage and working environment a HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filter can be mounted on your machine to filter out the printing space.
Advantages versus with other systems?
Most companies are already equipped with a commercial grade FDM. Our filaments are usable by most of these commercial printers, so little extra cost would be deployed to implement an in-house printer that would print ceramic and metal parts. We believe that FDM printing is also a very good compromise between cost and precision. You can also do completely enclosed cavities without having any holes.
Printing parameters & properties
What are your layer heights?
This is defined by you just before you print your part, it can vary from 0.1 to 1mm.
What's the recommended nozzle diameter and layer thicknesses to print your filament?
We can print with varied nozzle diameters and layer thicknesses but our most commonly used nozzle is 0.6mm and a 0.15 to 0.2 mm layer thickness.
What about printing speed?
The recommended printing speed is 25mm/s up to 40mm/s. If you want to print complex parts, it is recommended to slow down the printing speed.
Do you have any recommendation for support material?
For support, we can print in the same material but also print these support in other material such as PLA or PVA.
What are the average temperatures needed on the nozzles you've used?
The temperatures used are between, 100°C to 200°C, well in range of what classical FDM printers are able to deliver.
What is the precision you can achieve with your machine?
With the Raise3D Pro2, the precision when printing our filaments is :
• Layer height = 0,05mm (before sintering)
• Layer width = 0,01mm (before sintering)
What is the shrinkage rate?
About 20% for ceramics, this number varies for each specific material (even between black and white zirconia) but the shrinkage is a constant for each of these. For metal, the shrinkage is 11.5% in the XY directions and 12.5% in the Z direction.
Do you have homogeneous shrinkage at every direction or X-Y is different from Z?
Shrinkage can sometimes be different between X-Y and Z depending on the material used or the geometry of the part. Shrinkage values are available in the guidelines for each material.
Après l'impression
After chemical debinding, do you need to remove the acetone from the part?
It is recommended to let the part cool down in the acetone bath for a few hours before removing it from the tank to avoid delamination issues.
Is it better to remove supports after debinding?
We recommend to take the support off after the chemical debinding step.
What is the sintering atmosphere for H13 and 316L?
For our H13 and 316L sintering process, we advise doing so in a neutral gas atmosphere: e.g. argon ((Ar + H2 2.4%). The necessary equipment information is available in the operation manual.
Isn't there the risk of model distortion during the sintering?
The parts may undergo deformation during sintering. This could be due to incomplete debinding or print quality. In particular, always printing in the same direction is a bad idea, and it is better to print every other layer clockwise, and every other layer counterclockwise. For more information, see the design guides.
