What Are the Silicone 3D Printers on the Market?

Silicone is a material that is becoming increasingly popular in additive manufacturing due to its properties: good thermal and chemical resistance, biocompatibility and flame retardancy. Generally, the material is used in traditional manufacturing processes such as injection molding. However, it is difficult to 3D print due to its high viscosity and temperature resistance. Moreover, its liquid form entails some constraints, including a curing step. However, the developments around silicone 3D printing are more and more numerous and some actors are dedicated to the design of specific 3D printers. Several processes exist today to create silicone parts: material deposition, photopolymerization or even methods similar to injection molding. We took a closer look at the main silicone 3D printers on the market, listed below in no particular order, to get a clearer picture!

The Silimac P250 Silicone 3D Printer From Prayasta is Perfect for 3D Printed Prostheses

Prayasta is an Indian startup that is developing soft tissue implant prosthesis for next generation breast cancer treatment. They hope to create implants and prostheses that are rupture resistant and fully personalized in shape, size, weight, touch and feel. And silicone is a key part of their development. As such, the startup has developed its own technology, Implant-grade Elastomer Additive Manufacturing (iEAM) which is designed for implant grade silicone. Moreover, they even sell their own solution, the Silimac P250. Put forth by the startup as the future of ‘implant-grade’ elastomers and 3D printing, Silimac P250 uses this entirely new method devised by Prayasta as a way to more effectively print silicone using a mixture of syringe extrusion and real-time curing. The printer can hold up to 14,000 ml material in a single refill, making it suitable for production and boasts built-in UV sterilization for the print chamber, making it especially suitable for medical applications. It is precise and fast and has a build platform volume of 250 x 250 x 250 mm and a print resolution of 50 microns.

Photo Credits: Prayasta

SAM From Spectroplast

Spectroplast is a 3D printing company based in Zurich, Switzerland. It provides solutions in the field of silicone additive manufacturing with its SAM printer for the industrial and healthcare market. SAM (Silicone Additive Manufacturing) is a silicone 3D printer that uses the technology of the same name (Silicon Additive Manufacturing) and uses a DLP (Digital Light Processing) projector. It has dimensions of 430x510x820 mm, a print volume of 75x134x100 mm and its patented technology allows it to directly manufacture pure silicone without the need for molds, which is ideal for industrial and medical end-use products complementary to injection molding. It is fast, ecofriendly and cost-effective, with total design freedom and high quality prints.