High-Performance Liquid Crystal Polymers from NematX are 10x Stronger than PEEK

Given the many advantages plastics offer, such as a lower cost, versatility and water resistance, they are popular materials in additive manufacturing. They can be used as filament for FDM printing, powder for SLS printing, or resin for SLA printing. However, their biggest application so far has been for prototyping. To ensure that your application goes beyond prototype development, companies are striving to develop high-performance plastics that are also suitable for manufacturing end-use parts. One of the players in this field is NematX, a startup founded in 2020.

NematX is a Swiss company specializing in the development of filaments made from high-performance plastics. In doing so, they are reinventing filament development through the use of liquid crystal polymers. By using liquid crystal polymers, the filaments are said to be 10 times stronger than PEEK and can withstand temperatures of over 250°C. These properties make them suitable for the production of end-use parts for aerospace, medical and special industrial applications. With their “Nematic 3D printing” technology, the company even managed to emerge as one of the winners of the Startup Challenge at Formnext Connect. We met with Silvan Gantenbein, the inventor of the technology as well as the CTO and co-founder of NematX, for an interview.

3DN: Can you introduce yourself and your connection to additive manufacturing?

Silvan Gantenbein

NematX specializes in a new class of high-performance plastics for additive manufacturing. We are a spin-off of ETH Zurich and are the first company to make liquid crystal polymers that are accessible for 3D printing. Until now, this class of materials has mainly been used in the electronics sector and in the form of high-strength fibers. Our goal is to use the outstanding properties of this class of materials for additive manufacturing and to improve them further.