Filamet Silicon carbide

The Virtual Foundry has been the pioneer in developing metal and ceramic filaments for FDM 3D printing after many years of research and development. The great competitive advantage developed is that to obtain pure metal or ceramic parts it is only necessary to print the part and sinter it in a furnace.

The Virtual Foundry's ceramic filaments include Amaco X-23, Pyrex, Zircopax and Silicon Carbide.

Filamet™ Silicon Carbide is a filament developed by The Virtual Foundry (TVF) that, with a post-processing process using sintering, allows all-ceramic parts to be obtained while maintaining the natural properties of the material.

The Virtual Foundry's Filamet™ Silicon Carbide filament is a PLA-based material containing a 67.6% loading of Silicon Carbide. Silicon Carbide is a material that is noted for its hardness, being almost as hard as diamond, reaching hardnesses on the Mohs scale of 9 to 9.5. In addition, it is a semiconductor and refractory material that has many advantages for use in devices that involve working under extreme conditions of temperature, voltage and frequency.

Due to its PLA content, like the other filaments in the Filamet™ range, Silicon Carbide filament is very easy to process using the same printing parameters as with standard PLA. Thus, this filament can be used in almost any FDM 3D printer on the market.

Despite its ease of printing and due to its high content of abrasive particles, it is recommended to use a hardened steel nozzle with at least 0.6 mm output diameter and to use Filawarmer to minimise the risk of filament breakage.

To achieve fully ceramic parts, parts 3D printed with Filamet™ Silicon Carbide filament must undergo a sintering process. In the case of this material, this process is experimental, so an optimised procedure is not yet available.

Thanks to its properties, Silicon Carbide filament can be very useful for the manufacture of diodes, transistors, suppressors, etc. In addition, due to its high temperature resistance, silicon carbide is also ideal for abrasive and refractory applications.

Filamet™ filaments from The Virtual Foundry make it easy to produce all-metal or ceramic parts, reducing or even eliminating machining costs for short-run manufacturing, prototyping and one-off part fabrication. The Virtual Foundry's filaments are currently being used by a wide range of industry sectors: 3D printer manufacturers, biomedical innovation, jet engine development, radiation shielding, space exploration, nuclear power, dental, artists, and fashion design.