Summary
- Profile Type
- Technology offer
- POD Reference
- TOSK20240610005
- Term of Validity
- 10 June 2024 - 10 June 2025
- Company's Country
- Slovakia
- Type of partnership
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
- Investment agreement
- Targeted Countries
- All countries
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General information
- Short Summary
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Established Slovak scientific and research institute in cooperation with a private company has successfully managed to prepare unique polymer composites for 3D printing consisting of a polymer matrix and a filler, whereby as the polymer matrix recycled polyethylene terephthalate glycol (rPETG) is used and the filler is a mixture of expanded graphite and carbon fibers in a suitable ratio.
The preferred cooperation type are commercial agreement or investment agreement. - Full Description
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Currently, several principles of 3D printing are known which procedure have been gradually developed and improved. The most used is the FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) or FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) method. The principle of this method is that the filament is fed into the nozzle and the resulting melt is applied on the pad in repeated thin layers until a three-dimensional object of desired shapes and dimensions is created. The materials used for filaments are predominantly polymeric materials differing in their mechanical and thermal properties (e.g. acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polylactic acid, polyethylene terephthalate and others). In addition to polymeric materials, the filaments can also contain various additives (wood flour, ceramic particles, graphene, etc.) which serve to improve the mechanical properties or the appearance of the material. Their disadvantage is that they significantly affect the rheological properties of the melt or have abrasive properties on the nozzles which can lead to their wear and more frequent replacement.
A team of inventors from an established Slovak research institute and a successful Slovak company managed to use recycled polyethylene terephthalate glycol as the polymer matrix of the material for 3D printing, which has in comparison with polyethylene terephthalate a higher impact resistance and clarity. Due to the fact of using a recycled material, the final product is ecological. For the purposes of improving the mechanical properties (static and dynamic) and reducing the weight of the final product, carbon fibers in a suitable ratio with expanded graphite have been mixed into this polymer matrix. Expanded graphite, that has lubricating effects, also reduces the abrasive properties of carbon fibers, improves the rheological properties of the polymer melt with carbon fibers and adds fine roughness to filaments, resulting in an easier feed into the nozzle. Thanks to the high thermal conductivity of the expanded graphite, it is not necessary to change the temperature parameters of the processing.
The institute and the company are looking for a partner to cooperate with via commercial agreement or investment agreement. - Advantages and Innovations
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• several times lower price of the used polymer matrix (rPETG) in comparison with the price of non-recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET); this fact did not reflect in the properties of the resulting 3D object,
• higher impact resistance and clarity of rPETG in comparison with PET,
• weight reduction of the final product (saving about 15 - 20% of the final product weight), and at the same time achievement of higher strength and better surface appearance. - Stage of Development
- Lab tested
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal
- Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- IPR status
- IPR granted
Partner Sought
- Expected Role of a Partner
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Application (field of industry): 3D printing, especially the production of high performance materials for automotive industry.
The institute and the company are looking for a partner to cooperate with via commercial agreement (an industrial partner for licensing of this technology is sought) or investment agreement (a partner to sell this technology to is sought). - Type and Size of Partner
- SME 50 - 249
- Big company
- Type of partnership
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
- Investment agreement
Dissemination
- Technology keywords
- 3D printing
- Market keywords
- 08001018 - Polymer (plastics) materials
- 02002008 - 3D
- Targeted countries
- All countries