Sunday, December 11, 2011

Got DuPont FEP Teflon?

Got Milk? No?
Got DuPont FEP Teflon then? YES!
First Impressions:
It is a plastic, clear and somewhat like cellophane used in the floral business. There is an adhesive backing version, so
that would be the one to get, but could not find a source for it. In my neck of the woods Dupont does not even import or distribute the FEP film(Fluorinated
ethylene propylene). When you heat it up it becomes more flexible. I wrote about
this in http://3dlprint.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-know-you-have-asked-yourselves-this.html
I had a small sample piece then, now I have a much larger sheet, also thicker.
when I unroll even 5~10cm it is statically charged. It is hydrophobic, rather
resinophobic i.e. it repels resin and forces it to try to minimize the contact
surface.
I placed a drop of resin and spread it around:

 as you can see just on its own it tried to form a sphere.


 The cured resin is released easier than silicone, but not by that much.

What helps is that it flexes and literally peeled off the cured resin.
There were no ill effects to the film after polymerizing a drop of resin on top of it.
 I wiped it with a cotton cloth and then paper towels with Isopropyl Alcohol.

Clearly "THE SECRET" ingredient in a lot of printers.
More to come...

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