Nanofiber company BIG-nano and Renishaw use additive manufacturing to build a better nozzle
February 10, 2021
Images: Renishaw
BIG-nano has stepped up during the COVID-19 pandemic by using its nanofiber technology to help Canada safeguard the nation’s health care workers.
A couple of years ago, the Ontario company developed a gas-assisted jetting process to manufacture nanofibers—polymer fibers having nanometer-range diameters. The process can produce the N99-quality fabric used to make facemasks worn by medical personnel. During the process, a high-velocity gas rushes through a needle while a polymer liquid solution is simultaneously accelerated to the tip of the same nozzle. The two streams interact, transforming the polymer from a molten state to a fiber state.