Cyanate Ester resin is probably one of the more interesting resin materials that will be available for the M1. While there have been several high-performance resins available, CE seems to bring end-use functionality that can be manufactured in a matter of minutes to the table. The translucent amber finish will have a smooth and shiny surface finish right out of the printer and will actually become dull and matte when polished. Finished parts will be extremely strong and stiff and capable of deflecting heat up to an impressive 219°C (426°F). The long term thermal stability of CE makes it an ideal material for automotive applications, electronics and industrial parts that need to survive and continue to perform in hot environments.
Here is some video of Cyanate Ester resisting high temperatures in a forced circulation heated oven compared to an acrylate resin typically used for prototyping:
Sculpteo notes that while CE is quite rigid and capable of extremely precise high resolution parts as thin as 0.25 mm, they’re not ready to offer interlocking or moving parts just yet. Although the material is certainly strong enough, as with all of the CLIP resins, the parts will typically need supports that will have to be removed. Depending on the geometry of the 3D model, those supports could be difficult to remove. Testing out new materials is a time consuming process, so it’s just too early for them to know if it’s possible, what the minimum clearance would be or what the best method of printing and adding easily removable supports would be.
Several of Sculpteo’s automotive and aerospace clients are already using CE for tooling or mechanical parts and so far the results have been promising. While it is still quite early, it seems that Carbon and their CLIP technology are going to be a hit, and likely one of the first real contenders to bring DLP 3D printing to more industries and applications than ever before. If you would like to try out the technology then you can register for Sculpteo’s CLIP Pilot Program and give it a try. Sculpteo offers two types of finishes: the raw finish which is left as is and only has the supports removed, or hand polished, which smooths the surfaces and removes any scarring left over from the supports. You can read the entire blog post detailing their work with Cyanate Ester here. Is this a material you are interested in working with? Discuss further over in the New Cyanate Ester 3D Printing Resin forum at 3DPB.com.