Filamet™ silicon carbide pellets

Filamet™ silicon carbide pellets are small cylinders composed of silicon carbide loaded PLA. These pellets are composed of 67.6% silicon carbide and the rest PLA, making it the most ceramic loaded filament developed by The Virtual Foundry.

PLA (polylactic acid) is a biodegradable plastic obtained from natural resources such as starch extracted from corn, sugar beet and wheat. PLA is one of the most widely used materials in 3D printing today because it does not give off harmful gases and is easy to print.

Silicon carbide is a material that stands out 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.

Once a part has been 3D printed with this material, a sintering process is necessary to obtain a fully ceramic part. This process can be carried out in an open environment furnace or in a vacuum or inert environment, taking into account that the sintering values must be adjusted according to the geometry and model of the furnace. The product obtained is fully ceramic, but with some porosity and a reduction in volume due to the loss of PLA.

During the sintering process of 3D printed parts with Filamet™ silicon carbide pellets, the PLA is removed, resulting in all-ceramic parts with the actual properties of ceramic, but with some porosity and with a reduction in volume due to the loss of PLA.

The Filamet™ Silicon Carbide filament allows any FDM 3D printer user to produce Silicon Carbide objects. Once sintered in a furnace, the result of 3D printed parts with this material is 100% ceramic.

Filamet™ silicon carbide pellets are optimised for 3D printing. Moreover, thanks to their PLA content, they are very easy to process. There are several methods for using pellets in 3D printing:

• Filamet™ silicon carbide pellets can be used in the manufacture of filament for FDM 3D printers using Filastruder or any other filament extruder.
• A pellet extruder can be used directly to process Filamet™ silicon carbide pellets.

When using Filamet™ silicon carbide pellets to manufacture filament with a filament extruder such as Filastruder or using a pellet extruder for direct 3D printing, it should be noted that the extrusion temperature must be regulated in relation to the extrusion speed used. For optimal results in both the pellet processing and sintering process of 3D printed parts with this material, it is recommended to read the product's usage tips.