Swedish company Celwise AB has developed a method of using specially designed mixes of wood pulp to create water-resistant, plastic-like products using ExOne‘s unique porous metal tooling.
The unique Celwise tooling, which is produced in stainless steel 316L using binder jet 3D printing, is at the core of this renewable and biodegradable technology. There are three types of tools in each machine – forming, transferring, and pressing – to produce goods that will disrupt both the paper and plastic industry.
This new application is a state-of-the-art fiber molding technology, representing the wise use of 21st-century technologies to replace 19th-century technologies and processes. The final product is superior to traditionally molded fiber products in several respects.
Through this marriage of advanced and recently introduced breakthrough technologies, which Celwise has applied or developed, the papermaking and forming industry is set for some major changes. What was impossible for formed or folded paper or pulp is now a reality. What was only possible for plastics can now be done better in paper and molded pulp.
Manufacturing on Demand
Through unique, patented and 3D printed production tools the CelWise System cuts costs by 50% while delivering agile and highly accelerated parts throughput. This results in dramatically improved tensile strength and puncture resistance over current molded pulp, as well as a greater flexible memory of substrate, and better moisture resistance, for paper-made products.
In addition, the system’s tooling and machine interface flexibility encourage greater design flexibility in products that until now been made in plastics.
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Author: Victor Anusci
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