New silicone and ceramic resins for additive manufacturing from Formlabs

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3D printer OEM Formlabs has launched two new materials, Silicone 40A and Alumina 4N Resin, alongside a new Open Platform option that enables third party material access, personalizable 3D print settings, and open material 3D printing.

The company has also increased accessibility to its SLS ecosystem with Fuse Starter Package, enabled by Fuse Depowdering Kit. Formlabs’ two new high performance materials are targeted towards industrial, automotive, and manufacturing verticals, and bring the company’s growing proprietary resin portfolio to over 45.

“So much attention in the additive industry is focused on hardware, but materials are just as essential for delivering on our mission to create user-friendly, cost-effective 3D printing solutions so that anyone can make anything – commented Max Lobovsky, Formlabs co-founder and CEO -. That’s why we continue to innovate relentlessly in the material space, creating high-performance materials that unlock new possibilities in manufacturing, healthcare and other industries. With Silicone 40A and Alumina 4N, we’re combining the flexibility and efficiency of 3D printing and the performance of silicones and ceramics, at a price point that anyone can afford. We’re thrilled to both expand our ecosystem and make our Fuse 3D printers more accessible so our customers and new users can truly create anything at an affordable price”.

The new Silicone 40A Resin combines the material properties of cast silicone with manufacturing flexibility of 3D printing to boost design freedom whilst eliminating the labor intensive molding and casting process. Incorporating Formlabs’ patent-pending Pure Silicone Technology, Silicone 40A allows users to 3D print 100% silicone parts with complex geometries in-house and in a matter of hours. Ideal for the production of functional prototypes and end-use parts, this new resin can produce soft, pliable, and durable components capable of withstanding compression, flexing, and stretching.

Moreover, Formlabs’ new silicone offering can create parts that possess excellent thermal and chemical resistance. As such, Silicone 40A is particularly well suited to industrial and automotive applications. Consumer products such as wearables and medical devices are also highlighted as ideal use cases of this new resin. “Silicone 40A Resin gives me the flexibility to do designs that previously could only be done with a very expensive and time-consuming molding process – explained Guy Cardwell, director of research and development at HGM Automotive Electronics -, allowing us to explore new markets and manufacture products that would have been prohibitively expensive or complicated before. Other 3D printing solutions can print some kinds of elastics, but only the SLA Formlabs printer using Silicone 40A Resin can create soft connector seals that match the quality and durability of a silicone or TPU molded part”.

Alumina 4N Resin is a technical ceramic, and possesses 98.6% relative density and 99.9%-purity. As a result, this new material is said to be especially reliable in extreme conditions for parts that are thermally resistant, abrasion resistant, mechanically strong, and chemically inert. The material has been designed to withstand the extreme environments characterizing the manufacturing, defense, foundry, chemical, automotive, and semiconductor industries. Additionally, this new resin is said to remove the need for expensive tooling, reduce production costs, and enable shorter development cycles.

Alumina 4N is also said to unlock the affordability, design freedom and performance of additive manufacturing for ceramic engineering. Indeed, when used in conjunction with Alumina 4N resin, Formlabs claims that its Form 3+ 3D printers are the most affordable and user-friendly SLA ceramic 3D printers on the market. “Alumina 4N Resin is remarkably easy to work with and plugs into our workflow seamlessly – commented Benjamin Lam, materials research engineer at the Air Force Research Laboratory -. It fits a need in the market, with a low barrier of entry that allows us to rapidly iterate on designs and produce parts at a comparably low cost”.

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