A silicone-based support material eliminates interfacial instabilities in 3D silicone printing

Among the diverse areas of 3D printing, high-quality silicone printing is one of the least available and most restrictive. However, silicone-based components are integral to numerous advanced technologies and everyday consumer products. We developed a silicone 3D printing technique that produces precise, accurate, strong, and functional structures made from several commercially available silicone formulations. To achieve this level of performance, we developed a support material made from a silicone oil emulsion. This material exhibits negligible interfacial tension against silicone-based inks, eliminating the disruptive forces that often drive printed silicone features to deform and break apart. The versatility of this approach enables the use of established silicone formulations in fabricating complex structures and features as small as 8 micrometers in diameter. Description Overcoming challenges with silicone Silicone elastomers are used in a wide range of applications because of their resistance to heat, moisture, and chemical agents. However, three-dimensional (3D) printing with silicone is challenging because of the interfacial behavior of the precursors. Duraivel et al. present a method to 3D print precise, free-standing, highly detailed objects out of silicone-based materials by using densely packed emulsions surrounded by a silicone oil continuous phase as the support material. This technique allows for precise control over the interfacial tension between the support material and the printing fluid. The authors demonstrated that they could print features as small as four micrometers, as well as mechanically robust, thin-walled, accurate models of human vasculature. —MSL A versatile method enables 3D printing of precise silicone structures such as neurovascular and heart valve models.

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