As we all know, silicone is a material widely used in consumer goods, building materials, electronic products, medical equipment and other fields. However, due to the strong viscosity and the unique silicone thermally, its application in 3D printing has always been faced with challenges. A high viscosity makes it difficult to accurately control the silica gel during extrusion or deposit, while the thermodostage makes it unusable for traditional extrusion processes which are based on fusion materials.
Despite this, the 3D silicone printing technology has made significant progress in recent years, and some breakthroughs have occurred in the near future. Then, the resource library will lead you to discover several new progress in the field of 3D silicone printing, including new materials and a certain technical cooperation.
The first consumable silicone in industry
In the Formnext 2024 exhibition,Israeli 3D 3D printing equipment startupFilament2 published the first 3D silicone impression in the industry, which can be used on standard FFF 3D printers. Unlike conventional 3D printing consumables, this silicone consumable requires a material modification of the 3D printer.
The basic technology of this consumable is to fill the silicone dough in a hollow tube, remove the shell through a special cutting nozzle and directly extrude the silicone material on the print bed. This technology is suitable not only to silicone, but also to other dough materials such as biogels and ceramic pasta. This movement should improve the effectiveness of the prototyping of silicone components while making 3D silicone printing more possible.
Pure silicone material for 3D hps printing
Meanwhile, the Axtra3D printing startup focused on Hybrid Photosynthesis (HPS) technology launched the first 100% pure silicone material for its Lumia X1 Resin 3D printer. The material has a hardness of 50 degrees of hardness on the ground and is mainly used in the medical industry (such as anatomical models, portable devices and implants), electronics and robotics (such as seizures and connectors) and consumer products (such as laptops and personalized headphones).
Axtra3D hybrid Photosynthetic (HPS) technology combines the advantages of SLA and DLP, allowing users to print silicone components with good isotropic properties and details with high productivity.
It should be mentioned that Truesil-X50 is not the only 100% silicone material compatible with resin technology. In 2023, Formlabs launched silicone 40A compatible with its 3D serial printers, while Carbon launched the silicone polyurethane material for Sil 30, which, although not pure silicone, is similar to pure silicone in terms of biocompatibility and flexibility.
Lynxter cooperates with 3deus
Recently, Lynxter, a leader in industrial and medical 3D printing in France, announced strategic cooperation with 3DEUS dynamics, the pioneer of “dynamic forming” technology, to jointly promote 3D silicone printing technology.
3DEUS has developed a patented process called “dynamic forming” in which the silicone material is deposited using a bed of powder as a support structure. Unlike traditional 3D printing processes, this method does not require support structures and, at the same time, it reduces waste due to 100% support for the recyclability of powder. This technology also allows the effective printing of silicone components without being affected by gravity.
The 3D 3D 3D printer is compatible with the 3DEUS dynamic molding process, and users can use this new technology with additional features in the future. Previously, the company had printed a series of silicone handbags using the S300X, one of which recently appeared in the successful series of Netflix Emily in Paris.
Written at the end of the article
Silicone 3D printing technology was once considered difficult to achieve in the short term, but some progress has been made in recent years. With the continuous maturity of 3D printing technology and the continuous improvement of silicone materials, 3D silicone printing should be widely used in many industries such as medical care, consumer goods and electronics.
In the future, with the realization of more technological breakthroughs, 3D silicone printing will be possible to further reduce costs, improve production efficiency and promote the emergence of more innovative applications. We can plan that 3D silicone printing technology will play an increasingly important role in the fields of manufacturing, the medical industry and personalized consumer goods in China.
