EPU 46 Baking Considerations
This document provides information to consider when determining which type of oven to use for baking EPU 46 parts: standard air oven or inert oven.
EPU 46 contains roughly 6% of a non glycol ether acetate solvent (CAS 88917-22-0), which lowers resin viscosity during printing and is released over the course of the bake. This release rate is likely to vary with surface area of the geometries to be baked - faster release for larger surface area, and slower for lower. This solvent is a Category 4 flammability hazard.
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Carbon has measured the rate of solvent release in 1 mm thick lattice samples, and found a maximum volatiles release rate of 0.3%/min. Carbon testing has shown that convection ovens like the Yamato DKN series equipped with our recommended ventilation requirements (20 cfm, see the appropriate Facility Requirement Checklist. See links below.) running our recommended bake schedule for EPU 46 remained below lower flammability limits for this solvent for oven loadings of up to 3000 grams (2800 mL) of parts in a single bake cycle. This is a change.
As always, customers should perform their own tests to ensure release of volatiles meets safety standards or requirements for a particular design.
- CAS 88917-22-0 may condense in cold spots of ventilation systems such as elbows or connectors that are further away from the oven. We recommend periodic inspection for solvent accumulation in cold, low spots of the ventilation.
- For larger scale production, Carbon recommends installing water-chilled intercoolers (example) and traps in the ventilation in order to collect and capture this solvent.
- Inert ovens will provide an additional layer of safety as well as color uniformity and less discoloration for light colors, but may not be necessary for smaller scale production based on your evaluation.