Reactive Inkjet Printing Approach Towards 3D Silicone Elastomeric Structures Fabrication

Abstract

Production of 3D silicone structures with tailored architectures has a wide number of applications including soft robotics and stretchable electronics. This work investigates a method based on a reactive inkjet printing approach to produce 3D silicone structures. Printing parameters including pressure and temperature for jetting SE1700 ink to produce silicone structures were optimised. Additives, silicone oil and vinyl terminated polydimethylsiloxane were added to the main SE1700 formula to evaluate mechanical properties of the final parts. Characterisation was performed to understand the change in a sample’s properties in relation to different formulations. Silicone structures with different porosities were printed and the mechanical properties were investigated. It has been demonstrated that 3D silicone structures can be produced using reactive inkjet printing approach. The presented method allowed tailoring of the mechanical properties of silicones without increasing the viscosity properties of the base material by adjusting the silicone formula and using different structures.