Performance you expect, disassembly you design for
EnduraCure is rethinking the materials at the core of electronics: substrates and encapsulants that meet real performance requirements in use, then come apart cleanly when it's time to recover what's inside.
Born in a University of Utah Materials Science lab and now being advanced under an NSF STTR Phase I award, we're working to create materials customers can build with.
THE STATUS QUO
Why aren’t most electronic devices/materials recycled?
Photocurable & degradable-by-design
Why transesterification?
Most electronics use materials primarily chosen for thermal stability and chemical resistance. Those same properties make boards hard to take apart, so recovering the gold, copper, and precious metals inside is slow and often costs more than it returns. The material wins on durability and loses on recovery.
OUR APPROACH: WHAT MAKES OUR MATERIAL DIFFERENT?
High-temperature dimensional stability
Our resins are photocurable, so they cure on demand with light. This reduces cycle times and energy costs during manufacturing and makes them a good fit for thin-film formation and SLA 3D printing of circuit structures. In service they behave like standard, low-dielectric films. At end of life, the same chemistry is built to break down under low-temperature transesterification, releasing embedded components and precious metals for easier recovery.
Shredding and smelting are energy intensive and can be highly destructive to precious metals. A controlled, low-temperature chemical trigger uses significantly less energy and can maintain component integrity. It opens the board so components and metals come out intact and recoverable. That is the difference between recycling that costs money and recovery that returns it.
Most degradable materials are not able to withstand the temperature requirements of traditional soldering. Our fully crosslinked thermosets are dimensionally stable above 300 C, well above the standard solder reflow temperatures, which allows compatibility with traditional manufacturing methods.