Our nozzles get two rounds of special surface treatments. These treatments come from the injection molding industry and drastically increase the life time of a nozzle while allowing for better and faster prints.
Treatment 1: Diffusion
The goal of the first treatment is to permeate into the material and fundamentally change its properties, making it really hard and abrasion resistant.
Nasa investigated using this special technique to treat rocket engine parts because of its hardness and wear resistance at high temperatures.
Treatment 2: Coating
This coating gives the nozzle a hard and very abrasion resistant chromium based coating. It also reduces the friction between the thermoplastic and the nozzle, allowing for a better extrusion. It also reduces the amount of plastic sticking to the exterior of the nozzle, allowing for easier cleaning.
The coating also increases the chemical resistance of the nozzle, because certain exotic plastics and pigments chemically attack the nozzle, corroding it away.
