3D printing is showing no sign of slowing down across the engineering and healthcare sectors with investment in the technology growing each year.
Formlabs is fronting the charge with their range of SLA 3D printers, which use a powerful laser to cure resin onto a build platform with supreme accuracy. It comes as no surprise then that Formlabs has announced a series of high-performance resins and a new BioMed resin family.
Their new flexible and elastic resins, healthcare resins and dental resins continue to challenge what’s possible with 3D printing. Here’s everything you need to know about them:
New Flexible and renamed Elastic
Formlabs has introduced a new resin to their Flexible and Elastic resin range: Flexible 80A Resin (a reformulation of Flexible Resin) and has renamed Elastic to Elastic 50A Resin.
Flexible Resin 80A
Flexible Resin 80A is a reformulated version of Flexible Resin V2. It is Formlabs’ stiffest soft-touch material with the feel and appearance of rubber. It is the perfect material for creating strong, durable parts with elastomeric properties.
Potential applications include custom grips, over moulds, gaskets, grommets, seals, cushioning, dampening, shock-absorbing inserts and housings. It can also be used to create cartilage, tendon and ligament anatomy.
The “80A” in the name refers to the resin’s Shore durometer. This is a stiff soft-touch material designed to withstand bending, flex and compression.
Elastic 50A Resin
In comparison the renamed Elastic 50A Resin is Formlabs’ most elastic soft-touch material with the feel and appearance of silicone. It is the perfect material for printing consumer-ready products with the ability to spring back from compression and hold up to repeated cycles.
Potential applications include stretchable enclosures and housings, electronics casings, consumer products (e.g. watch straps, grips, baking moulds), compressible buttons, shock-absorbing inserts. It can also be used for soft tissue anatomy.
With a Shore durometer of 50A, Elastic Resin 50A is soft, flexible and elastic, designed to hold up to repeated bending, flex and compression.
New Healthcare Resins
Formlabs has introduced a new line of BioMed Resins for healthcare professionals. The range includes BioMed Clear Resin and BioMed Amber Resin. They are certified for use in the healthcare industry with ISO certification.
BioMed Clear Resin
BioMed Clear Resin is a strong, durable and hard biocompatible resin with USP Class VI certification. It is formulated to be used in applications that require high wear resistance and is compatible with all common sterilisation methods.
Potential applications include medical devices, medical components, surgical inserts, trays, jigs and fixtures, sizing tools, cases, housings and medical models. It is also suitable for long-term skin or mucosal membrane contact.
BioMed Clear Resin is made in Formlabs’ ISO 13485 facility so meets global healthcare standards. It is compatible with the Form 3B and Form 2 but not the Form 3.
BioMed Amber Resin
BioMed Amber Resin is a rigid biocompatible resin for applications that require short-term skin or mucosal membrane contact, like surgical tools and apparatus. It is a strong and tough material and is compatible with all common sterilisation methods.
Potential applications include surgical planning and implant sizing tools, drilling templates, implant guides, medical devices, device components and functioning threads. It is suitable for short-term skin or mucosal membrane contact.
BioMed Amber Resin is made in Formlabs’ ISO 13485 facility. As with BioMed Clear Resin, it is only compatible with the Form 3B and Form 2.
New Dental Resins
Formlabs has introduced five new dental resins: Custom Tray Resin, and 4 versions of Temporary CB Resin.
Custom Tray Resin
Custom Tray Resin is a brand-new resin formulated for printing custom impression trays. With it, you can print perfectly accurate custom impression trays quickly. You can print one tray in less than an hour to speed up your dental workflow.
Potential applications include custom impression trays for crowns and bridges, dentures, implants and dental models. This resin is also suitable for prototyping because it prints fast and produces an accurate, high-quality model.
Custom Tray Resin is only for use with the Form 3B printer. It supports a print resolution of 200-microns.
Temporary CB Resin
Temporary CB Resin is a brand-new resin developed in partnership with BEGO. It is formulated to create high-quality temporary crowns, bridges and other restorations with compatibility with traditional temporary cement.
Potential applications include temporary restorations, including crowns and bridges. There are four VITA shades to choose from that mimic the colour of teeth. You can use it to create restorations that maintain occlusal space.
Temporary CB Resin is compatible with the Form 3B printer. It supports a print resolution of 200-microns.