You know and love AluMide? Then you might be interested to hear Sculpteo now offers CarbonMide, an extremely stiff, strong and light material for professional 3D printing. 

Sculpteo added a new 3D printing material to their 3D printing services. CarbonMide is a fine black plastic polyamide powder (PA12), reinforced with carbon-fiber. Is is printed using a Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process. The material has some interesting qualities:

• extreme stiffness
• lightweight objects
• great strength and hardness
• electric conductivity

CarbonMide is great if you are looking for a material similar to solid black plastic polyamide – but much sturdier. It has nearly the same mechanical properties with one more additional value compared to black plastic: it’s lightweight. The applications this material typically can be used in are:

• light and stiff functional parts
• replacement for metal objects
• mechanically stressed parts which are optimized considering the self-weight of the part
• aerodynamic components in motorsports application
• mechanical, electrical, medical and ornamental applications

The Benefits and Applications of CarbonMide

Objects printed with CarbonMide are similar to the objects 3D printed with polyamide. It is flexible and stable to every weather. However, this material is not waterproof. Printed with EOS Formiga P396, it is known to have a good resistance to chemicals, particularly hydrocarbons, aldehydes, ketones, mineral bases, salts, alcohols, fuels and more.

Sculpteo offers the new material in black. Also, there are two finishing options finishes for CarbonMide: Raw and Polished.

• If you choose the raw finish, the 3D printed object will be sandblasted, but not polished. The surface will remain rough. This option comes a bit cheaper.
 A standard Benchy costs 44.80€ / $49.85 (incl. tax).
• Polished CarbonMode will be treated mechanically. As a result, the surface will be smoother to touch. However, layers will still be visible, especially on rounded objects.
 Sculpteo offered the standard Benchy for 46.66€ / $51.92 (incl. tax).

Worldwide shipping of CarbonMide is usually done within 16 days. Depending on the order volume of orders and finishing options, you should add 1-2 additional days.

The design guidelines for CarbonMide

Sculpteo also released a design guide for this material. Here are the key facts:

• Maximum size raw: 600 x 335 x 335 mm
• Maximum size polished: 180 x 150 x 150 mm
• Layer thickness: 150 µm. Can be 3D printed with an accuracy of ± 0.5% with a limit of ± 0.5 mm.

One important thing that you need to take into account is that the mechanical properties of CarbonMide can vary in the three-axis direction as a result of the process of the orientation of the fibers. Compared to X and Y, the Z axis is the least resistant. For the Expert Users, you need to make sure to choose the orientation of your 3D model through ‘Customized Orientation’ options.

If you also want to learn more about the technical specifications, you can check the CarbonMide Datasheet.

(Source: Sculpteo)