Elastic Resin is suitable for directly printing soft flexible prototypes and models.
Formlabs has introduced two new 3D printing resins to its stereolithography materials portfolio at CES 2019 in Las Vegas.
The first, Elastic Resin, is said to be the company’s softest engineering resin to date with a 50A Shore durometer. The material is suited for prototyping silicone parts that need to bend, stretch, compress, and withstand repeated cycling without tearing. Applications include wearables, medical models, robotics, and special effects props, which are typically produced through mouldmaking.
Further expanding its dental capabilities, the second resin is Digital Dentures, which Formlabs believes delivers the first truly accessible direct printed dental prosthetics. Tested with dental technicians, Denture Base Resin and Denture Teeth Resin enable dental labs and practices to produce fully 3D printed dentures accurately and reliably.
According to reports last year, Formlabs claims it has “the largest dental 3D printer user base” in the industry and is growing at a pace of “over 600%” year on year. It also estimates that “over 50,000” surgeries have been performed with a surgical guide printed on one of its machines.
Denture Base Resin and Denture Teeth Resin enable dental labs and practices to produce fully 3D printed dentures.
“Of the more than 4,000 CES exhibitors, 3D printing was likely part of the ideation, development or manufacturing for more than 90% of them,” said Max Lobovsky, co-founder and CEO of Formlabs. “3D printing continues to be one of the most important tools for anyone making anything. Time and time again we hear about the importance of seeing a product or project physically vs. digitally, which is why this year we’re showing workflows from end-to-end. Whether you’re creating a creature, or introducing personalisation to your product line, it helps to bring that process to life for an audience at CES.”
With a print farm of over 40 Form 2 printers on display at CES, Formlabs is also presenting several application areas including its recent partnership with Gillette which launched a customised razor product line featuring 3D printed handles.
