The second FuturePrint Virtual Summit will be taking place from October 12th to October 16th. ChemStream is a FuturePrint Virtual Summit Content Partner, and we caught up with the team to discuss why they have chosen to be involved in the upcoming event, what they will be presenting, and their focus for the future.

Why has your business made the decision to participate in the second FuturePrint Virtual Summit? 

During this period (which could become a “new normal”), where physical meetings, conferences and fairs are compromised, having a virtual summit is a powerful concept. We believe that this summit will give us a lot of exposure, reaching a broad and qualitative audience due to the broad network of FM Future. Furthermore, the topics of the summit fit well with our activities at ChemStream. In addition, we emphasize the strong market know-how of FM Future.

Who will be representing you at the FuturePrint Virtual Summit and what is their responsibility and experience?

Frank De Voeght and Marin Steenackers.

Frank (Managing Director) obtained his PhD in physical chemistry in 1983 at the University of Antwerp. His expertise lay mainly in the field of interfacial chemistry and fluid dynamics. Frank built an industrial career of 25 years as senior scientist and R&D manager at Agfa. He was involved in the development of high speed multi-layer coating technology and the development of several graphic arts and industrial imaging films. He was responsible for the product and business development of the performance industrial inkjet inks. In 2010 he co-founded ChemStream, an independent chemical R&D company, specialized in tailor made product development for dedicated niche markets.

Marin (Project Manager) is a material chemist who obtained his PhD in Polymer Chemistry at the TUMunich. Marin worked in the core R&D department of Agfa, developing new organic and polymeric building blocks for diverse graphic and coating applications. With a background in inks, coatings and 3D printing materials, he is specialized in the translation of material requirements into chemical formulations and the design of dedicated organic building blocks.

Why will your chosen topic be of interest and relevance to Summit attendees? 

Due to the unique combination of features, inkjet 3D printing is a unique technology for the digital manufacturing of 3D objects with completely new properties. Within this virtual summit, this topic can act as an eye opener to illustrate new, still unimagined applications of inkjet printing. While ChemStream is mainly focusing on developing the inks and printing processes, much can also be gained by further developments of new printheads (higher viscosities, higher temperature, smaller drops, hybrid printheads) and printing robots and hybrid manufacturing processes. 

How do you see the market developing in the next six months, and what will be your focus? 

As an R&D company, ChemStream is mainly involved in longer term projects and has a clearer view on longer term market trends as compared to 6-months evolutions. In the next months, the Covid-19 pandemic will have a short term impact on the diagnostic industry and as a consequence a substantial growth in microfluidic products is expected (Point-of-Care diagnostics, microreactors, drug delivery). We see over the past years, a strong enthusiasm for 3D inkjet printing but the market is today still small as compared to 2D inkjet printing. Our focus will lay on high resolution, multi-material 3D-applications.

Tell us more about the product and the specific market it serves.

While different players bring “mainstream 3D inkjet printing” solutions on the market which are typically used for rapid prototyping, manufacturing of molds and full color 3D graphic artwork, ChemStream is focusing on digital manufacturing of functional objects for dedicated applications. ChemStream is not only involved in the R&D activities, but has also the capability of producing inks and even, for very specific applications with a high added value and small volume, produce 3D printed objects. Besides industrial applications in which the focus is high productivity and multimaterial printing to reach the desired physical properties, ChemStream is developing inks and printing processes for the manufacturing of 3D printed optical objects and micro-reactors for bio-medical applications. 

What is unique about this product? How will it make a difference for customers?

ChemStream is focusing on applications for which 3D inkjet printing is a unique manufacturing process, such as the digital manufacturing of Gradient-index (GRIN) optics or biocompatible multimaterial micro-reactors. Besides the possibility of being able to realize the desired product, 3D inkjet printing is a versatile and flexible production method for small to medium-size production batches and allows a smooth integration with other production processes.

 You can find out more about the FuturePrint Virtual Summit here.

You can find out more about ChemStream here.