Materials producer Nanoe announces the development of a new portfolio of materials: Zetamix Epsilon.
The new series contains 3 filaments, each one with different permittivity going from 2.2 for the lowest value up to 7.5 for the highest value. These products are also characterized by their low dielectric losses with loss tangent of 0.001 and their high heat resistance with Heat Deflection Temperature (HDT) of 115°C. This last feature is essential to operate in severe environments such as the one encountered in aerospace applications.
Unlike the other 3D printing materials that Nanoe produces, this new line of filaments is neither bound to the sintering phase nor required any post treatment. Therefore, Nanoe’s clients will have access to a simpler process and be able to print parts with arbitrary 3D geometries and larger dimensions (up to 80cm), that is for now actually impossible using ceramic materials.
The Zetamix Epsilon filaments, with specific dielectric properties, enable the fabrication of a variety of components operating in the radiofrequency domain, such as antennas or metasurfaces. Many effective solutions based on 3D-printing of these filaments can be produced to answer the rising demand for compactness and efficiency in telecommunication equipment. Indeed, the access to printable materials characterized with high permittivity and low losses allows for the manufacturing of disruptive designs and concepts that have been so far challenging or even impossible to create.
For example, in the framework of a collaborative project, MACOY-3D, partly funded by the French Agency of Innovation for Defense, the consortium made up of ICMCB, CANOE, Thales Research & Technology and Nanoe, has demonstrated a solution of a low-profile 2D-beam-steering antenna based on the 3D printing of Zetamix Epsilon filaments.
Such new flat steerable antenna architecture proposed by Thales is composed of two rotating meta-surfaces with thousands microstructures from hundreds of micrometers to several millimeters fabricated by FDM 3D-printing with Zetamix Epsilon.
Based on designs proposed by Thales, the pictures illustrate two examples printed with Zetamix Epsilon filaments: on the left a 46cm-diameter metasurface and on the right a 28cm-diameter and 4cm-thick flat steerable antenna composed of 2 metasurfaces.
The filaments can be used with any FFF 3D printer able to print at a temperature above 300°C. They will become accessible with a starting price from 275 euros per kilogram through the distribution network of Zetamix. Both filament diameters of 1.75 mm and 2.85 mm will be available.
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