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Anouk Wipprecht’s 3D-Printed Proximity Dresses Are Perfect for Social Distancing

If you don’t remember the stunning and technical work from Anouk Wipprecht—the Dutch fashion design working on “rethinking fashion in the age of digitalization” by combining engineering, fashion, robotics, science, and interaction/user experience in an emerging field known as FashionTech—let me refresh your memory. Noting that fashion lacks microcontrollers—something I never would have thought about—Wipprecht is an amazingly unique designer, who wants her clothing to, according to her website, “facilitate and augment the interactions we have with ourselves and our surroundings.”

“In a future where electronics are predicted to be embedded in everyday objects, – what kind of clothes will we wear? Will future techno fashion be purely aesthetic – or will it expand our awareness, acting like an intelligent second skin? Will we become super sensory, physically aware of data flows, communicating our internal states through the garments we wear? And, most pertinently perhaps, how will we socialize in our world when we are supervised by technology?”

Anouk Wipprecht’s Smoke Dress

Back in 2014, Wipprecht launched a campaign to create the first crowdsourced 3D-printed dress, and followed this up with her Synapse Dress, partnering with Materialise, Niccolo Casas, and Intel to create a wearable that leverages the wearer’s own electrical currents for a fully immersive experience. The designer later combined 3D printing with virtual reality to create a collection of dresses for Audi, and worked with model and musician Viktoria Modesta to fabricate 3D-printed prosthetics for musical performance.

Now, the high-tech futurist designer is back with two new 3D-printed wearables that could be very useful in this time of social distancing, due to the continuing COVID-19 crisis: the Proximity Dresses, Robotic Personal Space Defenders.

“Extending my research into proxemics and the body, I have fabricated two new dresses that create physical barriers when a person is detected in the immediate surroundings of the wearer,” Wipprecht said. “These twin dresses respond based on proximity and thermal sensors and indicates strangers within the intimate, personal, social and public space around the wearer.”

As with Wipprecht’s Smoke Dress and 3D-printed, robotic Spider Dress, which literally moves itself into an attack position if the embedded proximity biosensors detect that the wearer is uncomfortable, the design for these new dresses is based on Edward T. Hall’s Proxemics Theory. She explains that the theory defines “four spaces around the body,” each of which has its “own characteristic distances.”

Anouk Wipprecht’s 3D-Printed Spider Dress

“Whereas Hall had to measure the space between people using a wooden stick, I have been working since 2007 to translate these concepts into the digital domain, in order to measure the spaces between people up to a range of 25 feet,” she explained.

The Proximity Dresses use robotic, nylon 3D-printed hip mechanisms to extend when necessary. Additionally, they feature a transparent collar, 3D printed from clear resin, with some fancy sensors that offer noise-free distance readings.

Anouk Wipprecht’s Proximity Dress

These sensors use “high-output acoustic power combined with continuously variable gain, real-time background automatic calibration, real-time waveform signature analysis, and noise rejection algorithms. This holds true even in the presence of various acoustic or electrical noise sources, making it suitable for on-body use.”

By using the sensors, Wipprecht’s unique designs can invisibly trace their surroundings. Additionally, since the sensors don’t record any images or video, the dresses are not a threat to privacy, as nearby people remain anonymous.

“The Proximity Dress 2.0 is based on my 2012 prototype of this dress using hip mechanics create distance and a proximity sensor (ultrasonic rangefinder) for VW showcase during IAA, in Germany,” she concludes.

Check out the video below to see Wipprecht discuss her innovative, defensive Proximity Dress with Hyphen-Hub:

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AMS 2020: Panels on 3D Printing Materials and Applications for Dental Industry

At our recent Additive Manufacturing Strategies 2020 in Boston, co-hosted by SmarTech Analysis, many different topics were discussed in keynotes and panels, such as binder jetting, medical 3D printing, and different materials. Dental 3D printing was also a major topic of discussion at the event, and I attended three panels that focused on additive manufacturing for dental applications.

The first, “Into the dental and oral surgery office,” had three panelists: Dr.-Ing. Roland Mayerhofer, the Product Line Manager for Coherent/OR Laser; CEO Manager of Oral 3D Martina Ferracane; and Mayra Vasques, PhD, a dental prosthesis fellow at the University of São Paulo in Brazil.

Dr. Mayerhofer went first, and provided a quick overview of Coherent’s laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) systems, and the dental applications for which they can be used.

The versatile CREATOR is the company’s open system, and can print with multiple materials, such as brass, cobalt chromium, steel, and Inconel.

“As long as it works, you can put any powder in you want,” Dr. Mayerhofer said about the 3D printer.

He explained said that the CREATOR setup is “typical but can be as big as a stand-up fridge, not the American double-size.”

You can take a look at the rest of the printer specs above, along with a few features that will be added to the new system that’s coming in 2021, such as two powder hoppers and a build platform.

“Then you can take them out, put fresh hoppers in, and keep going,” Dr. Mayerhofer said.

He stated that the dental field is likely one of the first major adopters of metal additive manufacturing, as the technology offers 100% personalization and can fabricate small, complex parts out of existing materials, like titanium alloys…all perfect features for the dental industry.

Dr. Mayerhofer then discussed Coherent’s digital dental workflow, which can get from scanning to a completed 3D printed part in 12 steps. Some of these steps include designing the CAD file and preparing it for 3D printing in the company’s APP software suite.

Later process steps are annealing, and then sandblasting, support removal, polishing, ceramic coating – added manually – and voila, you have a finished product.

The Dental Cockpit is Coherent’s latest addition. The CAM software makes it easy to load and print parts, which means that the digital dental workflow as a whole is much less complex. There’s one click to select the file, another to choose the materials and properties, and then a final click to generate the G-code.

Dr. Mayerhofer said that Coherent’s whole dental workflow, 3D printing on the CREATOR include, takes just one work day to fabricate a completed bridge in the dental lab.

After the cast skeleton is scanned, the dental lab begins preparing the CAD data at 8 am. Then the print job has to be prepared in Dental Cockpit, and 3D printing typically begins in the morning.

Once the parts are removed from the print bed, post processing is completed, and then a porcelain coating is added before the product is subjected to heat treatment and polishing. The completed bridge is then ready to go by 4 pm.

Dr. Mayerhofer noted that a dental lab’s ROI on the CREATOR 3D printing system is less than a year…typically about six months, in fact.

Then it was Ferracane’s turn to explain how her company, Oral 3D, makes 3D printing simple for dentists, even as it’s occurring at the industrial level.

“Our solution makes it extremely simple for dentists to bring 3D printing to their practice,” she said.

She presented a brief overview of the US dental market, noting that some of the major applications for 3D printing in the field include aligners, crowns, surgical guides, and soft tissue models, which dentists use to test procedures ahead of time.

“Usually today, the way most of these models are done is through intraoral scanning,” she explained.

Ferracane said that SLA technology makes it much easier to make these soft tissue models. But, even so, they can still only be used for testing purposes most of the time.

3D printed models of hard tissue – bone – are also fabricated, but she said that they’re not used often, as it’s difficult for dentists to come up with STL files of just the hard tissue.

She pulled up a slide that had the world “PROBLEM” across the top. The image appears to be scan data of bone, which looks pretty hard to read.

“It’s not easy for dentists to make this into something printable by cleaning up the images,” Ferracane explained. “So they can pay to outsource it to labs to clean it up. But our 3D printing software automatically does this. Just drag the CT scan, and we’ll take care of changing it from DICOM to STL. With one click, we can then convert STL to G-code.”

She said that while it’s obviously good to fabricate dental applications this way using Oral 3D’s printer, it will work with whatever system you’re already using.

These 3D printed models serve a variety of purposes – they can improve communication with patients, help in treatment planning, and even “broaden learning.” Ferracane mentioned that the company has partnerships with NYU and Harvard for this last.

Other applications include bone blocks, made-to-measure titanium membranes, and maxillofacial surgery. Additionally, she stated that Oral 3D recently began collaborating with dental surgeons, who use the company’s 3D printed dental models for planning and patient communication.

She finished by stating that the company believes FDM printing can “be a good value add for dentists.”

Vasques finished things by sharing her research into how things look, dental 3D printing-wise, from the point of view of clinicians.

“It’s common for most to be scared of using 3D printing,” she explained. “They think it’s plug and play, and it’s not.”

For her research, she divided users into two separate groups – high level experience (seniors), and innovation (early adopters and students).

“We are trying to figure out how these people understand the technology,” she said.

High level users expect accuracy, efficiency, high quality technology, and high-performance materials for the purposes of chairside 3D printing. Vasques said that these users “don’t want to wait 2-3 hours to make products by hand.”

“In university, we’re trying to establish protocols and research to help these people have the results they are expecting.

“We’re trying to solve problems, like mouthguards for sports.”

Vasques said that last year, she and her team published three articles about dental 3D printing topics, such as 3D printed occlusal devices and post-processing. She launched INNOV3D the same year, in order to help train professors in using dental 3D printing.

“We have an online training platform, educational materials, and 3D lab,” she stated.

Once she finished and sat back down, Davide Sher, the panel’s moderator, asked the other two panelists how they would address the challenges that Vasques listed, and how they would make dentists understand more about dental 3D printing.

Ferracane answered that most dentists aren’t buying 3D printers today, because they’re initially taught that the systems are really easy to use when they’re not. Once they run into issues with SLA technology, they get frustrated and just start outsourcing the work instead.

“Then they’re really dissatisfied, because they’re complicated and not just plug and play. We need to help them understand that they can bring the technology back to their office.”

Sher noted that dentists don’t really have the time to learn about the more advanced types, and so asked if the companies directed their technology to users in dental labs; Dr. Mayerhofer said yes.

After a short break, the next session, “Dental lab experiences with 3D printing,” began. While Les Kalman, an Assistant Professor for Restorative Dentistry at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine, was unable to make AMS 2020, Arfona founder and CEO Justin Marks and Sam Wainwright, Dental Product Manager for Formlabs, were both ready to go.

Marks went first, explaining that Arfona, founded in 2017 by dental technicians and 3D printing enthusiasts on “the core belief that thermoplastic dental materials should not be substituted for inferior photopolymers,” has been working to “bring 3D printing into the world of dentistry.” The company’s flagship product is its 3D printed flexible nylon dentures.

He pulled up a slide that cited research stating that 36 million Americans are completely edentulous, meaning without teeth, and that 178 million are partially edentulous. But even so, Marks said that there’s an “astronomical” number of people who are still not wearing dentures.

“Most people don’t think about this until it happens to you or someone you know,” he said about missing a tooth. “It’s not always that easy or cheap to fix this with implants.”

According to a survey, only 8% of dentures are digitally fabricated, which means most are still made by hand using analog methods.

Marks said that even though 3D printing is “becoming more of a buzzword” in the dental industry, most of the materials “have largely stayed the same,” and based on the same technologies and principles. Extrusion-based AM is not used often in dentistry, and powder bed fusion (PBF) is mostly limited to metals, not polymers.

Marks went through a brief history of 3D printing in dentistry. Ubiquitous applications include impression trays, digital models, and resin patterns for casting, while digital dentures are currently happening and things like clear aligners, temporary and long-term crowns and bridges, and multimaterial printing are in development for use in the future.

He said that the ubiquitous ones have one thing in common – they’re used once and then thrown away.

“We’re still not doing much with crowns and bridges,” Marks said. “Clear aligners are the holy grail, and direct printing of the aligner is still a ways off, though all companies are probably working on it.”

Aronfa’s dental 3D printer is the r.Pod, which is a modified version of a Makerbot clone. The dual extrusion filament system is optimized for all of the company’s thermoplastic materials.

Then it was Wainwright’s turn to talk about dental 3D printing at Formlabs. He agreed with Marks that “FDM and thermoplastics have an incredible place” in the dental industry.

When the company was founded in 2012, its goal was to make professional-scale 3D printing accessible and affordable for everyone. Now Formlabs employs over 500 people at its multiple locations around the world, and has sold more than 50,000 3D printers.

Wainwright explained that the Form 3B desktop printer, optimized for biocompatible materials, has many dental-specific features, materials, and software, in addition to automated washing and post-curing systems “to help tie in end-to-end dental workflows.”

In addition, Formlabs offers dental materials, and launched its dental service plan (DSP) along with the Form 3B in 2019. Because there are high demands, the 3D printing process is complex, and the DSP offers support.

“We are committed to 3D printing for dental,” Wainwright stated. “We have over 20 people in the dental business unit. But we have the resources of a 500 person-plus company.”

While most are made overseas, Formlabs Dental is now developing photopolymers in my home state, since the company acquired its main material supplier, Ohio-based Spectra Photopolymers, last year. Formlabs’ biocompatible Surgical Guide Resin is the company’s first material made in an ISO-certified facility.

“It’s exciting to have intimate control over design aspects,” Wainwright said.

The image above is an example of the Surgical Guide material. Wainright explained that the light touch supports are very easy to remove, which means that there isn’t a lot of time wasted in post-processing.

He said that 36% of dental labs in the US use 3D printing technology, which makes them very “cutting edge.”

“There’s a ton of market opportunity for dental to go digital,” he said. “We have 30% of this market – we’re the biggest player in dental laboratories and will continue to grow, but compared to Invisalign, it’s not really that much.”

So far, Formlabs has 3D printed more than 10,000,000 parts for the dental industry. Wainwright predicts that in ten years or less, “everything in dental will be 3D printed.”

He reiterated to the room that Formlabs has “a whole host of materials” for dental applications, four of which are solely for fabricating models, which are “really critical to dentists.” As dental offices adopt intraoral scanning technology, it’s helpful to take the scan data and turn it into something physical. Wainwright mentioned that Formlabs’ Grey Resin can achieve fast, accurate prints, and that it’s good for thermoforming as well.

The company’s Draft material is “accurate enough to create models in less than 20 minutes,” which makes it perfect for creating retainers on the same day as a patient’s appointment. Model Resin is good for accurately restoring dental models, while the biocompatible Dental LT Clear Resin can be used to print occlusal splints in addition to models.

Formlabs’ Digital Dentures solution comes in multiple shades to match a patient’s teeth, and a full set can be 3D printed for less than $10, which Wainwright says is “really a game-changer.”

“We want to make treatments easier, better, and faster,” he said in conclusion.

“3D printing is still very early in dental, this is just the beginning. The materials will just keep getting better, it’s an exciting place to be.”

Then it was time to eat lunch and chat with other attendees…or, as I did, inhale food and then find a spot in the hallway near an outlet and get a little work done.

After the lunch break, I sat in on my last panel at AMS 2020, “3D materials for dental applications.” It was a panel of one – Gabi Janssen, Business Development Manager and Global Leader, Healthcare Segment Additive Manufacturing, for DSM Additive Manufacturing. She presented on digitalization in healthcare and dentistry.

She tried to play a short movie about what the company does, but due to technical difficulties there was no sound, so she narrated instead, explaining that DSM is “a material company” that also does a lot with nutrition – a brand behind the brands.

The company also has a biomedical department, which helps deliver advanced healing solutions for AM applications, including bioceramics, collagen, polyethylenes, polyurethanes, and hydrophilic coating.

“What we have on the market is filaments,” Janssen said, pulling up a list of the dental materials DSM offers.

Several of the company’s products are geared toward the healthcare market, such as Somos BioClear for dental guides and anatomical models.

“So how do we develop a new material?” Janssen asked. “We’ve discussed 510(k) clearance materials, and you have to work all together. We look at the application, and determine what we need – printer, software, material – to fit what the end user needs.”

She pulled up a slide of the major market drivers in 3D dental printing – performance, mass customization, and time-saving.

“What kind of applications do we have in dentistry?” she asked.

To answer her own question, she showed a brief history of digital dentistry, starting with the first 3D printed part in 1983, moving on to DSM’s 3D printing resin in 1988, the beginning of aligner manufacturing in 1997 and medical modeling in 2000, and DSM’s dental materials passing USP VI in 2008. For 2020 and beyond, hopefully we’ll see the availability of direct aligner materials.

“I think there’s still a lot of data needed to show it’s good,” Janssen said about where the industry currently stands. “Reimbursement is difficult, we need this data to back it up.”

The topic of FDA clearance obviously came up a lot at AMS 2020. Janssen said that DSM has a resin that’s certified for use in dental bite guards, and a general purpose resin that isn’t certified but can be used to make FDA-cleared aligners.

“The end device needs the clearance,” she reminded the room.

She brought up how Materialise was the first company to receive FDA clearance for software about 3D printing anatomical models for diagnostic use. Materialise Mimics inPrint translates the data for the model to the 3D printer. Then, combined with a specific printer and material, it’s possible to fabricate “the model they actually want within a certain safety margin.”

“But, if you want to print medical models, just for patient communication, it does not need to be cleared, because it’s not a medical device,” she explained.

The slide above explains what makes a medical device controlled, i.e. needs clearance, while the below slide lists some very useful definitions, including biocompatibility and risk.

Janssen then brought up the “sometimes confusing standards,” such as ISO standards.

“Depending on what we do with the material, and how long it goes in the mouth, there are different risk associations,” she explained.

In terms of product classification, Class I is the least risky. But, the higher you go up in class, the more research is required to show that the 3D printable material won’t harm patients.

She said that the regulatory industry is changing to have more focus on software, with higher regulations for that software, because it “needs to be validated in combination with the material and equipment.” Additionally, there is more of a focus these days on understanding and managing risks, as well as reducing animal testing…always good news!

When choosing the proper filaments for your workflow, you should start by working with the dentist on treatment planning. Then, once the patient’s mouth has been scanned, you can create the design in the software. Then the build has to be prepared, which takes some patience and precision – you need to enter the optimal print parameters, and add supports if they’re needed. Then, after the print is complete, it needs to be removed from the bed, supports (if there are any) need to be taken off, and there may even be grinding and painting involved before the final quality check.

“Many process variables can impact the safety of the final end product,” Janssen noted. “So you need to understand the effect the material can have on patients.”

Finally, there are also plenty of steps to follow to ensure material safety in development, so it’s important to follow the instructions your supplier gives you.

Then it was time for some questions. One attendee asked why dentists aren’t all adopting AM, since some products, like mouthguards, look pretty easy to make in the back office.

“This may look easy, but it’s actually not,” Janssen explained.

She went on to say that the product or device may not always “come out right the first time.” There are a lot of parameters to look at, and potentially tweak, in order to achieve the desired result. A lot of people can get frustrated if it doesn’t work right the first time.

“What we’re doing now – if you bring your design to us, we’ll do the tweaking for you, as our software has all of the maximum and minimum numbers needed for parameters,” she said.

3D printing thought leader and author John Hornick offered his take on the question, as he has some experience with the matter. He explained that most dental offices are private, though many dentists are consolidating their practices into larger ones, “and their appetite for spending money on these machines may go up.” But, SmarTech doesn’t think the average dentist will spend that much for larger, more expensive 3D printers. That’s why some companies, like Arfona, are working on simpler material extrusion systems.

Another attendee said that it seems like 3D printing companies are just throwing technology at various markets and praying that it sticks. Dentists want to be dentists, and not spend their time dealing with issues like print parameters and melted filament.

“We, as technology providers, need to raise our game and make this work for these people,” Janssen stated.

I think that’s a great note on which to end my AMS 2020 coverage – we, the AM technology providers, need to show the rest of the world how 3D printing can work for their industries.

We hope to see you next winter for Additive Manufacturing Strategies 2021!

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Dental College of Georgia: Examining Photoinitiator Types in 3D Printing Resins

Researchers from the Dental College of Georgia, Augusta University, are exploring better ways to perform dental restoration, detailing their findings in the recently published ‘Photoinitiator Types Among a Variety of 3D Printing Monomers.’

As 3D printers have begun to make significant and noticeable impacts in dental and orthodontic labs around the world, a variety of hardware, software, and materials have sprung up, allowing for the direct fabrication of items like:

  • Denture bases and teeth
  • Temporary restorations
  • Splints
  • Impression trays
  • Surgical guides
  • Casts
  • Try-in set-ups
  • Stents

Although there is a range of printers to choose from, the researchers are concerned with the quality of ‘the light-curing sources used for the printing and post-cure processes match the spectral absorption profiles of photo-initiators present in a variety of different types of dental 3D printing resins.’

So far, R&D from a variety of manufacturers and labs has yielded desktop 3D printers that offer great accuracy and surface feature details, providing much greater freedom for dental offices as they can create items on demand while enjoying all the benefits of 3D printing—from offering patient-specific treatment and products that can be greatly customized to enjoying greater affordability and speed in production.

“Contemporary dental 3D printing typically involves use of near or true ultraviolet radiation (405 nm & 385 nm, respectively) in order to fabricate the basic desired form from a vat of photo-polymerizable monomers,” explain the researchers.

“Subsequent to initial form fabrication, the specimen is alcohol-washed of excess surface monomer, and is then subjected to an additional exposure of strong near/UV light, in order to maximize the polymerization process and provide optimal physical properties, as well as to minimize cytotoxicity resulting from leaching of unreacted, residual monomer within the bulk of the as-printed item.”

For this study, the research team used six different photoinitiators for UV-photopolymerization of acrylates, to include:

  • OMNIRAD 2100 – mixture of TPO-L and Irgacure 819
  • TPO-L (not obtainable) – also known as Ethyl phenyl (2,4,6 trimethylbenzoly) phosphinate (an MAPO)
    CAS 84424-1 1-7
  • OMNIRAD 819 – 819 (formerly Irgacure 819)
  • Lucirin TPO – TPO ( a MAPO)
  • OMNIRAD 184D – D (formerly Irgacure 184D )
    also known as 1-hydroxycyclohexylphenyl ketone
    CAS 947-1 9-3
  • OMNIRAD 1173 – 3 (formerly Irgacure 1173) also known as 2-hydroxyl-2-methylpropiophenone CAS 7473-9 8-5

Overall, results showed that the content of most resins was identifiable, although there was no consistency found in photoinitiator content among the materials.

“Knowledge of spectral needs of photoinitiators will help 3D printer/post-cure operators better understand the light source needs of different resins and to fabricate polymer forms having optimal physical and biocompatible properties,” concluded the researchers. “There is more relative absorption of photoinitiator at 385 nm than at 405 nm. Initial printing and subsequent post-cure might be more efficient using 385 nm, provided 385 nm has low attenuation within the printed model.”

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[Source / Images: ‘Photoinitiator Types Among a Variety of 3D Printing Monomers’]

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atum3D & Mitsubishi Introducing UV Resin for DLP Station 3D Printers at formnext

At formnext 2017, not long after announcing new partnerships and resellers the same year, Netherlands-based digital light processing (DLP) specialist and 3D manufacturing leader atum3D introduced its DLP Station 5 3D printer – the upgrade to its DLP Station 4 system. At the 2018 formnext event, the company introduced an open resin platform for the 3D printer.

Now, ahead of next month’s formnext 2019, atum3D, along with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, has announced that the two companies will present a newly developed UV resin for the DLP Station printer at the event.

“atum3D is proud to collaborate with Mitsubishi Chemical, an experienced and renowned company for UV resins,” stated Joep Koopmans, the Manager of Business Development and Partnerships at atum3D, in a joint press release. “As an instrumental part of the integral application solution that also includes hardware and software, we believe this technologically advanced material offers new opportunities for short lead times, fast design and development iterations as well as local, just-in-time production of automotive interior parts.”

Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Chemical, which employs more than 40,000 people at 351 affiliates in over 30 different countries around the world, offers a wide range of chemistry-based solutions that help solve environmental and social issues. The company is an expert in formulating and creating UV resins, which enable parts to be 3D printed without ridges, and in one piece instead of multiple ones.

“I’m glad to have such a professional partner like atum3D on board to develop the materials our customers demand,” said Dick Hoogerdijk, the Director of Marketing and New Business Development at Mitsubishi Chemical Europe. “This new development shows the commitment of Mitsubishi Chemical to become one of the leading suppliers in the 3D printing sector.”

By matching up Mitsubishi Chemical’s UV resin proficiency with atum3D’s know-how in combining its own 3D printing hardware and software with chemical expertise to create customer application solutions, the 3D industry is seeing a pretty great match. This also marks more expansion by Mitsubishi into SLA and DLP from its previous activities in FDM. This new UV resin is the first result of the partnership between the two companies, which began last year.

atum3D’s DLP Station 5 3D Printer

Diabeam, this new UV resin for DLP 3D printing, has specific properties for both heat and impact resistance, which are normally not easy to attain in photocurable resin materials. The resin can solidify under a 365 nm light source, and also has a high scratch resistance – great for 3D printing covers and frames for automotive interiors and long-lasting interior trim parts.

The DLP Station 5 3D printer is available in both a 365 nm wavelength option and a 405 nm one as well, and its open resin platform allows users to select different resolutions and wavelengths. It has a resolution up to 6 µm after Tolerance Tuning, and features increased accuracy, consistency, and speed when compared to the DLP Station 4.

To see the new Diabeam UV resin for yourself, and learn more about its possible applications, you can visit both companies at formnext 2019 – atum3D will be at booth B19 in Hall 11.1, while Mitsubishi Chemical Europe GmbH will be located at booth B139 in Hall 12.1.

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New 3D Printing Resin Made with Nanodiamond Powder

Nanodiamonds are diamond particles produced by explosions, and are very thermally conductive. Nanodiamond powder is made up of non-toxic diamond nanoparticles, with a large surface, that are about 5 nm in size, and feature some interesting properties.

Researchers Krzysztof Królewski, Aleksandra Wieloszyńska, Aleksandra Kamińska, and Katarzyna Kardacz from Poland’s Gdańsk University of Technology (GUT), wanted to investigate a particular property, and published a paper on their work, titled “Optical properties of daylight curable resin doped with nanodiamond powder.”

The abstract reads, “In this paper a new material for 3D printing was elaborated on. Since diamond has very good optical properties, an idea occurred to us to apply it in a 3D printing process. A mixture of nanodiamond powder and standard 3D printing resin was created and several printouts have been completed. They have been tested for their abilities to transmit and absorb light in a wide spectrum of wavelengths. It turned out that nanopowder doped resin in comparison to standard one has worse optical properties. However, it shows that a mixture of resin and nanopowder can control optical properties of printouts.”

Fig. 1. Prototypes of 3D printed cylindrical lenses. L-R: convexo-convex lens, convexo-concave lens, plano-concave lens, plano-convex lens, and concavo-concave lens.

The team prepared and analyzed a new 3D printing material made out of diamond nanoparticles and amber 3D Daylight Hard resin from Photocentric, which caused unique optical properties. They fabricated a few examples of their material on the Liquid Crystal 10′ 3D printer, and then tested the optical properties, along with the optical properties of the Photocentric polymer resin for comparison.

Fig. 2. Prototypes of 3D printed spherical lenses. Bottom L-R: plano-concave lens, plano-convex lens, and convex-concave lens. The top row shows two convex-concave lenses.

“The 20 mm × 20 mm plates were printed as test samples which were prepared with different thickness (0.2 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.8 mm, 1 mm, 1.5 mm, 2 mm and 5 mm),” the researchers explained.

A spectrometer was used to obtain transmission characteristics of the 3D printed sample plates, in the 200-1100 nm wavelength range at room temperature. These characteristics are defined by, as the researchers wrote, “increasing transmission with decreasing the thickness of plates.”

Fig. 3. Two series of flat plates (first series at top and second at the bottom). The thinnest plate is on the left.

For the first series of 3D printed plates, the transmission was almost zero for light waves in the 200-400 nm range, while the greatest transmission was for those in the 800-1100 nm range. The transmission for series #2 was even higher, which was easy to see with thicker plates. These characteristics are comparable with those of other optical materials, such as fused silica, and are definitely appropriate for a number of optical applications.

“In the first series, the maximal transmission is 60% and 44% for 2 mm and 5 mm thick plate, respectively. In turn, in the second series, this value is 75% and 65%, respectively,” the researchers noted.

The team then determined the absorption characteristics for the plates, and found that the greatest absorption is for light waves in the 200-400 nm, due to their orange color; the lowest absorption was for waves in the 600-1100 nm range.

Fig. 8. One series of flat plates, printed from the mixture of resin and nanodiamond powder which was obtained by evaporating DMSO from the suspension with nanodiamond.

More plates were then 3D printed out of the team’s novel material of nanodiamond powder and resin. The researchers then went into a little more detail as to how they obtained, and created, the material.

“The nanodiamond powder was obtained by evaporating DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) from the suspension with nanodiamond,” they wrote. “Then the 66.835 g liquid resin was mixed with 0.069 g powder. First, the magnetic stirring was carried out for an hour and after that, the sonication was done for 45 minutes. The sonicator worked in pulse mode with power set at 10%.”

The team used a series of OCT measurements to evaluate the material properties of the 3D printed plates, and got single B-scans from three plates with diamond nanoparticles, and one without, for reference. The images show that because of nanoparticles being present, and “the lack of tendency to agglomeration,” the prepared material was in fact homogeneous.

Fig. 9. OCT image of the plate with nanopowder. There are scattering centers in the sample (bright spots in the image), which indicates the occurrence of diamond nanoparticles.

Fig. 10. OCT image of polymer used for printing. Lack of the scattering centers indicates no occurrence of the diamond nanoparticles.

“In this research we have shown that the presence of nanodiamond affects the optical characteristics of the mixture,” the researchers concluded. “It gives premises that other nanoparticles can modify the optical properties, especially absorption characteristics. Therefore, it may lead to new opportunities for a low-cost, quick and easy method for rapid prototyping of optical filters.”

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3D Printing News Briefs: September 2, 2019

In this edition of 3D Printing News Briefs, we’ve got stories to share about a new material, a case study, and an upcoming symposium. Liqcreate has released a new 3D printing material for dental professionals. FELIXprinters published a case study about its automotive 3D printing work with S-CAN. Finally, ASTM International will soon be hosting an AM symposium in Washington DC.

Liqcreate Releasing New Dental 3D Printing Resin

Manufacturer of professional-grade 3D printing materials Liqcreate has been hard at work on a new 3D printing resin to help dental professionals optimize their digital workflow and scale up their in-house manufacturing. The hard work has paid off, as the company is announcing the release of its newest material, Liqcreate Premium Model – an accurate, low shrinkage resin for fabricating dental and aligner models.

The opaque photopolymer is matte, and the color of skin. Parts 3D printed with Liqcreate Premium Model have low shrinkage and excellent dimensional stability, and its low odor makes it great for office use. Other benefits include high detail and accuracy, and temperature resistant for aligner production. The resin is compatible with the Anycubic Photon, Wanhao D7, and Kudo3D Bean 3D printers, in addition to all open source 385 – 420nm LCD and DLP systems. You can purchase Liqcreate Premium Model through the company’s distributor network starting September 2nd.

FELIXprinters Publishes Case Study

Dutch 3D printer manufacturer FELIXprinters published a case study about its work with reverse engineering and 3D scanning company S-CAN 3D Ltd, a UK customer which uses FELIX’s AM platforms to manufacture jigs, create casting molds and masters, and prototypes. Founded in 2012, S-CAN also uses FELIX technology to manufacture automotive parts, like the pictured engine block. FELIXprinters offers a range of systems for industrial prototyping and production applications, inlcuding its Pro 3 & Tec 4 series of AM platforms and its new, larger Pro L and XL models.

“We have found FELIXprinters AM platforms to be very easy to use. You can be up and running within a few minutes of getting them out of the box. We run all of our printers through Simplify3D software so you load the profile, pick a material and you are ready to go. In-house we now have the first machine we bought from FELIX back in 2015 (the Pro 1), and a Tec 4.1, a Pro 3 and the new Pro XL. Our first Pro printer has paid for itself 10 times over,” stated James Senior, MD of S-CAN 3D.

“Internally, S-CAN 3D use FELIX 3D printers for prototyping designs. We might do five or more different concept designs of a particular part or component, as it’s much easier to visualise a part when it’s in your hand. We are putting a lot of work through the newly purchased XL printer and it’s opening up things which we wouldn’t have been able to do before (at least to the same quality and size), so things are very encouraging. We have found FELIX machines to be very repeatable which is our most fundamental requirement for any application, and we also haven’t noticed any accuracy degradation over time.”

At the upcoming TCT Show in Birmingham, September 24-26, the two partnering companies will exhibit together at Stand E50 in Hall 3. Visitors will be able to view FELIXprinters’ Pro series of 3D printers, as well as its new advanced, customizable 3D bioprinting platform.

ASTM International’s AM Symposium

Speaking of industry events, ASTM International, which recently announced that it will be hosting its second Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence Workshop in France, will also host a symposium in the Washington DC area. The Fourth ASTM Symposium on Structural Integrity of Additive Manufactured Materials and Parts, held by the ASTM International Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AMCOE) from October 7-10 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland, is designed to give AM professionals a forum to exchange ideas about the structural integrity of 3D printed components and materials, focusing on quality and certification criteria and the lack of design principles and industry standards.

Paper topics for the symposium include the effect of anomalies, process optimization to improve performance, feedstock and its related effects on mechanical behavior and microstructure, and the applicability of existing test methods. Sessions will be organized by sector-specific applications, such as aviation, consumer, maritime, and spaceflight. Registration for the event will be open until October 2nd, 2019.

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4D Printed Shape Memory Polymers Given Better Performance & Recyclability

Authors Ang Li, Adithya Challapalli, and Guoqiang Li explore a trend that continues to grow: 4D printing. Their findings are explained in the recently published “4D Printing of Recyclable Lightweight Architectures Using High Recovery Stress Shape Memory Polymer.” Here, the benefits of smart materials that can adapt to their environment are explored as the researchers consider challenges in 3D printing self-healing shape memory polymer (SMP) microlattices, and move forward to develop their own thermoset polymer offering the following features:

  • High strength
  • High recovery stress
  • Perfect shape recovery
  • Good recyclability
  • 3D printability with DLP

The ability to create lightweight structures is one of the greatest benefits of 3D printing, but users are continually looking for better ways to have it all, including good mechanical properties. This is especially important in advanced engineering applications where capabilities such as the following are in demand:

  • Shape memory
  • Recovery stress
  • Damage healing
  • Recyclability

Schematic of recyclable and shape memory microlattices using 3D-RSMP. (a) 3D printing (direct light printing (DLP) of advanced multifunctional microlattice structures using the 3D-RSMP. (b) Compression programming of the printed microlattice to a temporary shape and recovery to the original shape. (c) Recycling of the ball milled multifunctional microlattices under high pressure and high temperature. (d) The remolded specimen for mechanical tests.

3D printed shape memory polymers tend to offer better potential, offering higher speed in production, less energy consumption to produce, and less post-processing. Shape memory effect is usually improved too, in what is ultimately the process of 4D printing, bringing forth ‘stimuli-responsive self-evolving features’ which offer better performance for load-bearing parts and structures. Before this study, however, the researchers found a resource for SMPs with high stress output lacking. Creating a higher-performance SMP meant turning to thermosets and either DLP or SLA methods.

The research team created a specialized 3D-RSMP resin for universal DLP 3D printing, offering mechanical properties they believe to be as good as some of the ‘best commercial DLP resins without multifunctionality,’ with higher shape memory and better self-healing qualities. 3D structures were designed in SolidWorks and then 3D printed on the Asiga Pico 2, with 3D-RSMP resin with 0.15mm layer thickness. Samples were also tested for recycling, crushed and broken, and then ground up via ball milling. Afterward, the researchers added the particles to a steel mold, with pressure applied at 200 °C or 150 °C for 2 hours.

Recycling of the crushed microlattices. (a) A recycling process is described: broken and failed shape memory microlattices were crushed into powders via ball milling; a steel mold was used for recycling milled powders of 3D printed microlattice structures under varying conditions. A mechanical test was performed on the remolded rectangular specimen made of the milled powders. (b) Typical tensile stress vs. strain curves of the remolded rectangular specimens obtained under varying conditions ((200C12M2H represents molding at 200 °C and under 12MPa pressure for 2h; 150C12M2H represents molding at 150 °C and under 12MPa pressure for 2h; and 150C9M2H represents molding at 150 °C and under 9MPa pressure for 2h) with a loading rate=0.5mm/min at room temperature.

The 3D-RSMP product appears so far to be the only SMP that can be both 3D printed and recycled—with recovery stress larger than 10MPa. In terms of application, the researchers also found their cubic microlattice to have the highest mechanical strength ‘with comparable or even higher specific compressive strength than metallic microlattices and ceramic microlattices without shape memory effect.’

 “The results show that the cubic microlattice has mechanical strength comparable to or even greater than that of metallic microlattices, good SME, decent recovery stress, and recyclability, making it the first multifunctional lightweight architecture (MLA) for potential multifunctional lightweight load carrying structural applications,” concluded the researchers.

“Future work will be focusing on improving the recycling efficiency of the 3D-RSMP and the microlattice, and further optimizing the geometry through topological optimization or biomimicry in order to obtain microlattices with higher mechanical strength and shape memory effect for advanced structural and engineering applications.”

Mechanical properties of various microlattices upon compression. (a) Compressive strength vs. apparent density plots of various microlattices and foams. (b) Compressive modulus vs. apparent density plots of the three microlattices in this study.

 

While 3D printing is a source of fascination around the world, still, 4D printing takes fabrication to another magical level as researchers produce innovations like tunable metamaterials, multi-metals, and processes for other industrial applications.

Tree unit cell geometries have been drawn in Solidworks and then assembled to the corresponding microlattice structures. (Row 1: unit cells, from left to right: Octet unit cell (OCT UC); Kelvin unit cell (KVNUC); Cubic unit cell (CBC UC), Row 2: 3D printed microlattice structures, from left to right: Octet microlattice structure (OCT LTC), Kelvin microlattice structure (KVN LTC), and cubic microlattice structure (CBC LTC); Row 3: multi-length scale microlattices, from left to right: 1st order octet truss (1O OCT) and 2nd order octet truss (2O OCT)). (Te scale bar applies to all the five lattice structures).

[Source / Images: ‘4D Printing of Recyclable Lightweight Architectures Using High Recovery Stress Shape Memory Polymer’]

 

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3D Printing News Briefs: March 23, 2019

We’ve got plenty of business news to share in this week’s 3D Printing News Briefs, but first we’ll start off with something fun – the winners have been announced for this year’s Additive World DfAM Challenge. Moving right along, BeAM is now a Tier 2 member of the ARTC, and PostProcess Technologies has announced improved processing times for SLA resin removal. Protolabs is offering new anodizing services, in addition to teaming up with Wohlers Associates, and Arkema will soon open a new PEKK plant in the US. Continuing with new things, a new AM digital career growth platform just launched, and there’s a new open project call for the European AMable project. Finally, GoPrint3D is the new UK distributor for Mayku and its desktop vacuum casting unit.

Winners Announces for Additive World DfAM Challenge 2019

This week during an awards dinner at the Additive World Conference in Eindhoven, Ultimaker’s Steven van de Staak, Chairman of the 5-member jury for this year’s Additive Industries’ Design for Additive Manufacturing Challenge, announced the two winners and their “inspiring use cases of industrial 3D metal printing.”

Obasogie Okpamen from The Landmark University in Nigeria won first place, and an Ultimaker 2+ 3D printer, in the student category for his Twin Spark Engine Connection Rod. While the connection rod that he redesigned for an Alfa Romeo 75 Twin Spark Turbo engine has not yet been fully tested, he won “because of the example it sets” for distributed localized manufacturing of spare parts with 3D printing. Dutch company K3D took home first place, and an Ultimaker 3, in the professional category for the Dough Cutting Knife it developed for Kaak Group, a leader in the bakery equipment world. The team integrated mechanical parts into the design, which can be 3D printed without any support structures and has improved functionality. The knife sits in a dough extrusion line and due to its light weight less knives and robot arms can do the same amount of cutting. This means that the extrusion line itself is cheaper. Furthermore the knife has been optimized for a cleaner cut with less knife sticking to the dough.

BeAM Joins Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre

Membership agreement signing ceremony held in ARTC

France-based BeAM, which has subsidiaries in the US and Singapore and was acquired by AddUp this summer, is now partnering with the Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre (ARTC) as a Tier 2 member in an effort to expand its research activities in southeast Asia. The center provides a collaborative platform, which will help BeAM as it continues developing its Directed Energy Deposition (DED) technology with companies from the aerospace, consumer goods, marine, and oil & goods sectors.

This summer, BeAM, which also became a member of the Aachen Centre for Additive Manufacturing earlier this month, will install its Modulo 400, featuring a controlled atmosphere system, at ARTC, so other members can safely develop non-reactive and reactive materials. The two will also work to develop process monitoring systems that can expand DED’s range of applications.

PostProcess Technologies Announces New Solution for SLA Resin Removal

A new and improved solution for SLA resin removal by PostProcess Technologies vastly improves process times by 5-10 minutes – quite possibly the fastest on the market. The system can clean up to five times as many parts before detergent saturation when compared to solvent resin removal, and is part of the company’s automated AM post-print offering. The patent-pending solution, which also reduces environmental hazards and preserves fine feature details, was validated with eight different resin materials in several production environments, and uses the company’s proprietary AUTOMAT3D software and SVC (Submersed Vortex Cavitation) technology in the DEMI and CENTI machines.

“PostProcess’ latest innovation of the most advanced SLA resin removal solution in the world reinforces our commitment to providing the AM industry with transformative post- printing solutions enabling the market to scale. SLA is one of the most popular 3D printing technologies in the world. No matter what volume of printing, any SLA user can benefit from the remarkable efficiencies of our solution’s decreased processing time, increased throughput, increased detergent longevity, and improved safety,” said PostProcess Technologies CEO Jeff Mize. “PostProcess has designed the world’s first complete SLA resin removal system, available only from the pioneers in forward-thinking 3D post-printing.”

The new SLA Resin Removal technology will be on display at PostProcess booth P21 at the upcoming AMUG Conference in Chicago. You can also read about it in the company’s new whitepaper.

Protolabs Offering Aluminum Anodizing; Partners with Wohlers Associates

As part of its on-demand production service, digital manufacturer Protolabs is now offering aluminium anodizing in response to demand from customers in need of a single-source solution. Anodizing forms a protective oxide layer by applying a thin, protective coat to the part, which increases abrasion resistance and creates a barrier against corrosion. The company will be offering two levels of this service for Aluminum 6082 and 7075: hard anodizing to ISI 10074 for parts requiring protection from harsh environments, and decorative anodizing to ISO 7599 for parts that need an aesthetic finish. All parts will be sealed, unless they need to be painted post-anodizing.

“Talking to our clients, we realised that if they needed to anodise an aluminium part it was often difficult for them to source and then manage a supplier. They not only have to do all the research and then raise a separate purchase order, but often find that the supplier only accepts large quantities of parts in an order, which isn’t great for low volume runs,” explained Stephen Dyson, Special Operations Manager at Protolabs.

“Keeping the entire production process with a single supplier makes perfect sense for manufacturers. It means they can get their finished parts shipped in a matter of days and our technical team can advise them through the entire process, right from the initial design of the part to the best approach for the final anodising finish.”

In other Protolabs news, the company is partnering up with AM consultants Wohlers Associates to jointly hold an immersive course on DfAM. The class, which is invitation-only, will take place over the course of three days near Raleigh, North Carolina, and will end at Protolabs’ 77,000 sq. ft. 3D printing facility. Olaf Diefel, Associate Consultant at Wohlers Associates, and Principle Consultant and President Terry Wohlers will lead the discussion, in addition to being joined by several Protolabs engineers who are skilled in polymer and metal 3D printing.

“Designing for AM offers unique challenges and opportunities not found in traditional design methods. Protolabs brings tremendous depth of expertise and leadership in 3D printing. We’re thrilled to work together to equip attendees with technical skills and manufacturing knowledge needed to unlock the full potential of additive manufacturing,” said Wohlers.

Arkema Opening New PEKK Plant

Arkema, one of the largest specialty chemical and advanced materials developers, has been busily producing polyetherketoneketone, or PEKK, in France. But this coming Monday, March 24th, it is celebrating its new Kepstan PEKK plant near Mobile, Alabama with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The durability and customizable abilities of PEKK make it a good material for a variety of 3D printing purposes. Monday’s event will take place from 10:30 am to 1:30, and will also include VIP comments and lunch. The increased volume of this PEAK material will shake up the high-performance polymer market making PEKK a viable alternative to PEEK and PEI.

New AM Digital Career Growth Platform Launched

A free interactive platform to help AM professionals enhance their skills and fulfill career opportunities is now launching. i-AMdigital, which counts HP as one of its backing partners, is a joint venture between AM industry recruiter Alexander Daniels Global, digital venture company TES Network, and web and UX design company De Wortel van Drie. The platform was created to develop a growing AM talent pool, and uses smart matching and AI to offer customized career advice, courses, training, and job opportunities.

“There just isn’t enough talent out there. At the same time the learning and development landscape for additive manufacturing is very fragmented. This makes it difficult for individuals and organisations alike to access courses that can help them upskill. i-AMdigital solves both problems through our digital career growth platform,” said CEO and Co-Founder Nick Pearce of Alexander Daniels Global.

“It is an essential tool for the AM industry that will allow talent to grow their career and make an impact in additive manufacturing. It will provide organisations access to a growing and educated talent force to address their hiring needs and a marketplace for learning and development that can help them upskill their existing workforce in the latest technologies.”

AMable Launches Second Open Project Call

The AMable project, which receives funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, has just launched its second project call for proposals and ideas that can be applied to AM. The project is continuing to look for new ways to innovate on services for mid-caps and SMEs in the EU, and chosen teams will receive support from the AMable unit.

AMable is a Factories of the Future (FoF) project participating in I4MS (ICT for Manufacturing SMEs), and is working to increase adoption of AM technologies through the EU. The project will build a digital model that will provide unbiased access to the best AM knowledge in Europe in an effort to support this adoption. For more details on the call, visit the AMable site.

Express Group Appointed New UK Distributor for Mayku

GoPrint3D, a division of Express Group Ltd, has just been named the new UK distributor for London startup Mayku. The startup created a desktop vacuum casting unit called the FormBox, which is a handy partner for your 3D printer. Once you create a 3D printed mold, you can put it inside the compact FormBox, which is powered by any vacuum cleaner and works with many materials like wax and concrete, to cast a series from it – putting the power of making in your own hands.

An architect forming a dome template on the FormBox.

 

“We are thrilled to have partnered with Express Group on our UK and Ireland distribution, building on our existing servicing and repair relationship,” said Alex Smilansky, Mayku Co-Founder and CEO. “When we founded Mayku, our goal was to bring the power of making to as wide an audience as possible. The partnership with Express Group will allow us to deliver a first-class making experience to more people than ever before.”

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3D Printing News Briefs: March 1, 2019

On this first day in March, we’re sharing business and dental news with you. Markforged is helping businesses speed up and facilitate their 3D printing adoption with its new Additive Manufacturing University, and 3DEO is more than doubling its production capacity this quarter. Lumi Industries has entered into a distribution agreement with Harzlabs for 3D printing dental resins, and Renishaw is leveraging Polygonica for its dental applications.

Markforged Announces Additive Manufacturing University

Boston 3D printer company Markforged announced a new program this week that’s meant to help large manufacturing businesses facilitate and accelerate their 3D printing adoption. Its Additive Manufacturing University was built to help companies learn some of the skills they’ll need to design for additive manufacturing, manage the 3D printing process, find new applications for the technology, and successfully build businesses cases for replacing the lengthy, expensive manufacturing processes traditionally used with 3D printing. There are three main ways for companies to take advantage of the Markforged Additive Manufacturing University: onsite at Markforged for single or multi-day workshops; certification and training delivered at a customer’s own facility; and the free, on-demand Markforged Learning Library.

“Markforged Additive Manufacturing University is really about inspiring industry-wide innovation. Once we’ve helped engineers, designers, and the manufacturing industry build a strong foundation of additive manufacturing skills, the potential is nearly limitless,” said Andrew de Geofroy, the Markforged Vice President  of Application Engineering.

3DEO Continues Its Growth in 2019

Metal 3D printing company 3DEO, Inc., based in Los Angeles and founded in 2016, grew a lot last year, having used its patented Intelligent Layering Technology to 3D print and ship over 30,000 paid parts to customers in multiple industries in 2018. It appears that this growth isn’t slowing down either, as the company is more than doubling its production capacity this quarter to meet customer demand with its proprietary metal 3D printers. It’s only the first day of March, and 3DEO has already locked down two more customer production orders that are scheduled for delivery this year, one for 24,000 pieces and another for 28,000.

“By all measures, 3DEO is rapidly expanding to fill a large void in the market of small complex metal parts. Customers are validating our technology across a variety of industries and we are either in production or quickly moving to production with many clients,” said Matt Petros, CEO and Co-Founder of 3DEO. “Additive manufacturing is finally competing directly with traditional manufacturing, enabling significant volumes to shift over to AM. It is a very exciting time for 3DEO, metal additive manufacturing and our customers.”

Lumi Industries and Harzlabs Announces Dental Distribution Agreement

Russian startup HARZLabs, which manufactures resins, recently had a successful European launch at formnext 2018. The company keeps environmental protection in work spaces and the healthcare of operators at the forefront by using high quality raw materials that they say give their 3D printing resins a low rate of toxicity, with hardly any odor. This means they claim that they can be used safely in naturally ventilated laboratories, without requiring a dedicated evacuation system.

Now, Italian DLP 3D printing company Lumi Industries has entered into a distribution agreement with HARZLabs for its professional dental resins, and will be distributing the materials at a competitive price through its online store in 1 or ½ kilo leak-proof sealed bottles. The line of 3D printing dental resins is currently under certification, and includes Dental Cast, heat resistant Dental Yellow Clear, transparent and low-viscosity Dental Clear, and Dental Sand A1-A2, which is perfect for highly detailed prints.

Renishaw Leveraging Polygonica for Dental 3D Printing

3D printing company Renishaw manufactures advanced 3D printers and software, but it also produces crowns and bridges through its dental services business. Renishaw leverages mesh processing software Polygonica to enable more reliable automation for this particular application, which used to be completed with lost wax casting and CNC milling processes. David Turner, Renishaw’s Software Development Manager, explained that the company runs into mesh integrity issues with small holes and gaps, non-manifold bodies, floating shells and voids, and incorrectly oriented triangles.

“The amount of mesh detail is really key to us because we’ve got tens of thousands of parts coming in monthly. That takes up a lot of server space plus the amount of bandwidth it takes to shift these parts around our manufacturing system is huge. Also, the amount of time to process those parts and create laser paths that we can actually then build the parts with goes up massively,” Turner said.

“Polygonica helps us reduce the amount of data in the mesh whilst guaranteeing not to lose important detail.”

Turner also said that Renishaw uses Polygonica to help with other mesh modeling needs, such as product identification and tracking, creating nesting algorithms, hub placement, and creating abutments. Renishaw also used Polygonica to develop its ADEPT craniomaxillofacial design tool for 3D printing, which you can learn more about in the following video:

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