MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
STARTUPS ARE WHAT HE DOES
From Nebraska to Alaska, working mechanical engineers across industries and markets reach out to each other to network, train professionally, engage with the community, and access critical resources.
Written by Cathy Cecere
Tullomer parts in use to help tow a vehicle. Photo: Mike Zimmerman
WHEN JOSEPH RADISEK accepted a manufacturing engineering job with Honeywell in Nebraska City after years of living in Dallas, his first thought was, “Who do I even know here?” His initial inclination was to turn to his college alumni group and, not surprisingly, the closest University of Dayton (UD) chapter was hundreds of miles away. Without a Dayton lead, the mechanical engineer turned to the ASME and found the Nebraska Section.
Nearby, he located members working at Offutt Air Force Base, at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant, and frozen food manufacturer Conagra. Now working in Cleveland, Radisek is reminded of how ASME connections can help anchor an engineer. His current role as a new product development manager at Pursuit Aerospace brought Radisek back to his hometown. And this latest move to Cleveland reminded him that there is always an ASME member or professional section ready to welcome a mechanical engineer no matter where life may send them.
Parts made from Tullomer. Photo: Mike Zimmerman
Started Early
Having earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering, Zimmerman has worked in the materials field for three decades and has watched the trends and has developed a material with the properties of advanced materials such as polyether ketone (PEEK) and polyetherimide (Ultem).
In fact, the story of Z-Polymers is in its material, Tullomer. The substance is heat and chemical resistance, has mechanical strength, and is biocompatible. But what puts Zimmerman’s material ahead of the others is the simple fact that individuals are able to use an affordable, simple printer—like a Bambu—to achieve comparable mechanical properties to Ultem and PEEK.
“The nature of our material is that we formulated it such that you can have better mechanical properties than PEEK and it has equivalent or better properties in other areas like chemical resistance,” Zimmerman explained. For example, it is V-0 (like PEEK), but has a lower outgassing and lower dielectric properties.
So while others try to improve upon mechanical properties by adding fillers or introducing chopped carbon fibers and long continuous carbon fibers, Tullomer doesn’t add fill or fiber yet still has a very high strength-to-weight ratio. And it has many other properties such as it is non-flammable. “Actually, the surface chars into a carbonaceous layer. So it won’t burn or drip,” Zimmerman explained.
“The material bonds to other long chains and making it such that it has secondary bonds that make it melt processable so we can heat it up and melt it, extrude it, and can print at a very high speed.”
—Mike Zimmerman, CEO and founder of Z-Polymers
He pointed to the polymer, Kevlar. The fiber can only be extruded using a solvent. It doesn’t melt and is strong because of aromatic, benzene rings, Zimmerman explained. “What we have done is take a similar backbone of Kevlar and incorporated that backbone into our polymer,” he said.
“The material bonds to other long chains and making it such that it has secondary bonds that make it melt processable so we can heat it up and melt it, extrude it, and can print at a very high speed,” Zimmerman added. The material is able to maintain its crystallinity throughout the entire process.
The startup is so optimistic about its material that it sent out an invitation to send in ideas for its uses. Four hundred individuals took Z-Polymers up on the offer and sent in their concepts. Realistic ideas were rewarded with some of the material—free of charge.
Cathy Cecere is membership content program manager.
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