Aerogel Infused Thermoplastic Filament for 3D Printing.

Fellow Makers, Inventors, and Innovators; My name is Daniel P. Lynge, and I am the Chief Science Officer and Head Alchemist for Angstrom Innovations, Inc.


Angstrom Innovations is a small Advanced Materials manufacturer based near Seattle, specializing in Hydrophobic Silica Aerogel particulates (Extreme Thermal & Electrical Insulator). What has that got to do with 3D-printing? Well, one of my hobbies is 3D modeling and printing. I’ve tinkered with stuff since I can remember (like the time I got in trouble for disassembling all the telephones in the house… I was 6), and got the Idea to combine the two while watching a “How do they make that?” episode featuring peanut butter filled chocolates with my son…


You all are my type of folk, at least as far as being makers and tinkerers, hackers & inventors. I *really^3* want to see what you creative types can make with an Aerogel infused 3D-printer filament. I’ve combined some 200~200 mesh particulates with ABS, and mechanical/destructive testing suggests an upper limit to the Aerogel to ABS ratio. I’ve seen carbon nanotube- & buckyball-, steel-, aluminum-, and other material -Infused Filaments in ABS & PLA for the 3D-printer market, and so I asked the Angstrom Beancounters, they said “Get positive feedback by noon Tuesday, or it’s a NO-GO”.


So, Can I get “Peer Review” for the concept of Silica Aerogel infused 3D-Printer Filament? Would this be a Useful Thing? I know I’m excited about it, but it’s my idea; that and $5 will get you a Mocha. As far as insulative objects made with an additive printer, do you like the idea? Would you like to have Aerogel Infused Thermoplastic Filaments? And what would you be willing to pay for a 1 lb. spool equivalent of A.I. Filament?


Thank you for your Time, and hopefully your support.


Daniel P. Lynge,

CSO/HA Angstrom Innovations,Inc.

 

Without knowing the properties of the printed objects, required printing parameters and such, its a question in search of a ouija board. With no data there can be no worthwhile answer.

 

Ditto to Mikethinks. To me, all new filaments are interesting, but what they actually do and how well they do it, and why they exist are pretty basic to the process.

 

Thank you all. So far, I've been doing the Infusing of S. Aerogel into ABS in my "free time". I now have 3(three) 3D-Crafters who want me to make enough to actually test the physical characteristics.

the following is all Educated Guesstimates. You know nothing of me, nor of my claims, and I have yet to prove the validity of any of the following:

Aerogel is the second least dense material created, and our Hydrophobic version is around 0.15 (Water being 1.0, Mercury is 13.5), which means the insulating properties (thermal & electric & acoustic) are second only to pure vacuum. PLA has a density between 1.21-1.43, and ABS between 1.06-1.08.

Replacing half the volume of media has, historically, Not Significantly affected the strength of the various media I've tested, but greatly affected the insulative qualities of what ever media I have tested, from Epoxy resins, to Cements & Concrete mixes, to Water-based Latex paints. Assuming that the thermoplastics fail at the same saturation range (75%-80%) as other media, and using a 1:1 ratio that has impacted E.T.A. insulation qualities to twice that of fiberglass ((Heat only)Approx R-10 per Inch instead of R-4)...

It will be several weeks until I have perfected the embedding process & tested the properties of embedded PLA & ABS to my own satisfaction, much less to the satisfaction of those that have more experience in these endeavors than I.

Density (and the like) means the Aerogel infused Thermoplastics will weigh half or less than that of virgin plastics, so selling them by length instead of weight is viable.

I will post updates on probable pricing tomorrow.