Introducing silicone to the world of additive manufacturing

Project Information

SPECTROPLAST

Grant agreement ID: 854596

DOI

10.3030/854596

Project closed

EC signature date 7 February 2019

Start date 1 March 2019

End date 30 June 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

SPECTROPLAST AG
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SPECTROPLAST (Introducing silicone to the world of additive manufacturing)

Reporting period: 2019-03-01 to 2019-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Silicone elastomeric components are traditionally produced through liquid injection moulding (LIM). Such techniques present intrinsic limitations of being long and expensive, viable only for high volume production, and also not suited for complex geometries. This causes 7% - 10% of the global silicone parts demand remaining unmet. Additive Manufacturing (AM) holds the potential to be a complementary process to fill this gap, but so far, its usage has been limited by the unsuitability of soft materials like silicone to be 3D printed. .
The objective of Spectroplast project is to commercialise our patented break-through material technology which makes silicone light-curable and hence suitable for the most widely used 3D printing technologies such as stereolithography and digital light processing.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Our innovative technology is a result of 5 years of R&D work at ETH Zürich. The silicone AM platform technology has been validated by testing one of our resins on an industrial-scale 3D printer. The functionality of our 3D printed silicone products was demonstrated through printing of patient-specific artificial aortic heart valve replacements which exceed minimal device performance requirements for aortic heart valve replacements. A 3D printed silicone part for eye surgery was also validated by physicians.
During the feasibility study, we defined the technical requirements needed to improve our material system technology to increase printer output. Based on the results of the market research and customer interviews, we established the customer needs, and identified the most promising markets to target (healthcare and medical). We explored the intellectual property and regulatory landscape, and established that we have the freedom to operate. Based on these results we concluded that the Spectroplast project is viable.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Spectroplast provides cutting-edge material technology that makes any standard industrial silicone light curable, and hence suitable for commercially available AM technologies. Currently, there are no companies offering a similar solution at such development stage.
Compared to the prior state of the art LIM, Spectroplast has the following socio-economic impacts:
• Ability to produce customisable medical products to save patients’ lives or make their lives more comfortable
• Reduces lead-time by 100x and costs by 5x-10x
• Enables soft components with complex geometries
• Zero material wastage during printing
• 99% reduction in energy use leading to less CO2 emissions

Spectroplast sealing solutions

Spectroplast patient-specific shaped heart valves replacements

Sample Spectroplast 3D printed otoplastics