Carbon Nanotubes Powers New ESD 3D Printing Resin by B9Creations

Professional 3D printing solutions provider B9Creations has been keeping its focus on AM materials lately, launching a line of robust resins in October and a silicone for jewelry molds last summer, as well as one for medical applications in January. The company serves dealers, customers, and partners in high-precision applications, such as model making, healthcare, research, manufacturing, and jewelry, and its latest material should be of help with these. B9Creations has just launched ESD – Rigid, a UV curable, ESD-safe engineering resin to be used with its B9 Core Series of 3D printing systems. What’s most interesting is that the resin is powered by Mechnano and its carbon nanotube Mech^T technology.

Mechnano is an Arizona-based nanoengineering company, and is said to be the first to 3D print parts with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using vat photopolymerization systems. Its proprietary Mech^T technology, backed by more than ten years of research and development and protected by over 120 issued and pending patents, can be used to print parts with static-dissipative properties, or majorly improve the tensile performance, as well as impact and tear resistance, of those parts.

“Production-ready additive manufacturing solutions from Mechnano help B9 Core Series systems users move from prototyping to production with ease. ESD – Rigid provides an immense benefit to various industries where damage caused by static buildup is a major concern,” explained B9Creations CEO Shon Anderson in a press release.

Mechnano and B9Creations have actually been partners for several months now, as the two started working together this fall to develop photopolymer engineering materials for additive manufacturing. In order to deliver these high-value materials, like the new ESD – Rigid resin, both B9Creations’ ultra-precision, high-throughput 3D printers and Mechnano’s technology are used. Mech^T makes it possible to disperse detangled, separated CNTs through a 3D printing material without having to worry about re-clumping, and the “discrete tubes” can be adjusted to elicit certain performance requirements, such as ESD.

“That’s the power of Mech^T. We’re able to add desired properties—in this case, ESD—without compromising mechanical performance,” explained Mechnano’s President Bryce Keeler. “ESD – Rigid provides a valuable AM solution to highly technical industries. We’re excited Mech^T is now commercially available for use on the B9 Core Series 3D printers, and we look forward to working with B9Creations to answer the calls of other industries as well.”

The new ESD – Rigid resin features high tensile strength and heat deflection temperature (HDT), which makes it a good choice for printing static-dissipative parts that need to withstand the difficult manufacturing environment, such as jigs and fixtures for electronics manufacturing, SMT pick and place nozzles, electrical connectors and enclosures, and custom trays for handling and storing components. In addition to being static-dissipative, the durable material also offers readable detail and a smooth surface finish; other specs include:

• 3.8% elongation at break
• 87 Shore D hardness
• 97.4 MPa flexural strength
• 0.9% water absorption
• 2600 MPa tensile modulus

Paired with the B9 Core 5 Series XL 3D printing platform, ESD – Rigid is said to be “the ultimate solution” for electronics manufacturing in aerospace and defense, industrial, and medical device sectors. You can join the waitlist to receive early access to the new ESD – Rigid resin here.