EP3687763A1

EP3687763A1 - 3d-printed shaped parts made from more than one silicone material

Info

Publication number: EP3687763A1
Application number: EP17777575.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Bernd Pachaly; Christian Georg BAUMANN; Vera SEITZ
Original assignee: Wacker Chemie AG
Current assignee: Wacker Chemie AG
Priority date: 2017-09-29
Filing date: 2017-09-29
Publication date: 2020-08-05
Also published as: KR20200042930A; WO2019063094A1; JP2020533202A; US20200238601A1; WO2019063094A8; CN111163919A

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for the additive manufacturing of an object using a 3D-printing device. The method is characterised in that (A) a structure-forming printing material consisting of a first cross-linkable silicon rubber composition and (B) at least one additional structure-forming printing material are used as printing masses. Applying the printing masses drop-by-drop allows the production of complex models consisting of different materials with a custom-made property profile. The invention also relates to objects produced by said method.

Description

3D printed parts made of more than one silicone material

The invention relates to a method for the additive production of an object using a 3D printing device. The process is characterized in that the printing compositions (A) used are a structure-forming printing material consisting of a first crosslinkable silicone rubber composition and (B) one or more further structure-forming printing materials. The drop-wise application of the printing compounds enables the production of complex models made of different materials with a tailor-made property profile. The invention also relates to objects produced by the aforementioned method.

State of the art

In 3D printing, three-dimensional objects are built up layer by layer. The structure is computer-controlled from one or more liquid or solid materials according to predetermined geometries from the CAD (Computer Aided Design). When building physical or chemical hardening or

Solidification processes take place. Typical materials for 3D printing are plastics, synthetic resins, ceramics and metals. 3D printers are used in industry, research and also in the consumer sector. 3D printing is a generative manufacturing process and is also referred to as additive manufacturing.

The most important processes for 3D printing are selective laser melting and electron beam melting for metals and selective laser sintering for polymers, ceramics and Metals. For liquid photopolymerizable resins, stereolithography and digital light processing as well as polyjet modeling are used. For thermoplastics, fused deposition modeling continues to exist.

First of all, 3D printers are used to produce

Prototypes and models, as well as the production of objects, of which only small quantities are needed. Growing importance is attached to individualized geometries in medicine and sport, but also to objects that can not be produced by other methods. An example are objects with internal grid structures.

Compared to the injection molding process, 3D printing has the

Advantage that the costly manufacture of tools and molds is eliminated. Opposite to all the material erosive

Procedures like cutting and turning have 3D printing

Advantage that the processing of the original form is eliminated and hardly any material loss occurs.

Few 3D printing processes are known in which more than one material can be printed. For real elastomers, including silicone elastomers, multi-material printing is still unknown. Real elastomers are covalently crosslinked elastomers. Other

Elastomers that are not covalent but only about

intermolecular forces are networked, and therefore

are meltable and easier to work with than

termed thermoplastic elastomers or thermal loads.

US 9,031,680 B2 describes the production of objects from several materials by 3D printing. The printing process is described as multijet printing. As materials, acrylate used functional organic polymers which are polymerized by UV light. These have a low viscosity and are therefore also referred to as printing inks. The

Although US Pat. No. 9,031,680 B2 describes rubbery materials which, unlike real elastomers, have only low elongations at break, 140% are mentioned for a Shore A 40 material.

We are looking for a possibility, real elastomers, ie

Rubber materials to produce. Photopolymerizable acrylates or thermoplastic elastomers are not suitable for this purpose. Silicones can not be used in the process disclosed in US Pat. No. 9,031,680 B2 because they are highly polluted

Viscosity and low surface tension can not be adapted to the given process window.

Silicones are the only real elastomers known for 3D printing.

US 2016/0263827 A1 describes a process in which a crosslinking catalyst is added to a bath of liquid silicone via a dispensing needle movable in three-dimensional space and leads to local crosslinking. The cross-linked component is then mechanically removed from the bath and processed. This procedure is on soft

Silicone with Shore A smaller than 50 is limited and does not allow the construction of several materials.

WO 2017/040874 A1 describes a method in which silicone is extruded from a die that can be moved in three-dimensional space. The silicone can be thermally crosslinked. In the extrusion, which the skilled person also as

"Dispensing" refers to a silicone material is pressed through a nozzle needle, forming a strand and is on the Construction platform or already printed surface filed. The force for dosing the silicone material can by

different means are generated, e.g. a pump, a piston, a gas pressure or a combination thereof. Typical nozzle diameters are 0.05 to 1 mm. Typical layer heights are 0.05 to 1 mm. The material flow is withdrawn when reaching a position where no material is to be printed and metered until reaching a position where the material is to be re-metered. This method is described for the use of only one silicone material and is also suitable only for simple geometries. Because when

Discontinuation of material dosage in silicone a string

is unavoidable, so components made of more than one silicone material can not be in the necessary resolution and

Geometry fidelity finished.

A method for 3D printing of silicones according to the "drop-on-demand" process is described in WO 2016/071241 AI In drop-on-demand printing, the pasty silicone material is ejected in the form of droplets from a metering valve Typical nozzle diameters are 0.05 to 1 mm. The principle of operation of the valve is that the material flows through a pressure in the valve where it is ejected through a nozzle by a spring, magnetic mechanism or a piezoactuator similar to a piston pump Typical droplet sizes with silicone - Material is 0.05 to 0.5 mm The dispensing is interrupted when the dispenser is moved in a printing phase in which no material is to be printed The droplet frequency is typically 100 to 1000 Hz, up to 10,000 Hz with special valves, but until now this procedure was only for the pressure of a silicone material and

Support material known. The object of the present invention was to provide a method which enables the printing of elastomeric objects made of different materials in one printing operation and by which objects with tailored properties can thus be obtained.

Surprisingly, it was found that droplets

crosslinkable silicone rubber compositions homogeneous

connect with each other and with other materials, even if they have different properties and compositions. This makes it possible to print objects from different materials. Each material can be placed independently of each other at any position as a single droplet in three-dimensional space. It can be achieved sharp boundaries between the materials, but also flowing transitions, so-called gradients. This results in great freedom in the construction of components made of different materials in one production step. With the method according to the invention, objects can be produced which consist of silicones of different color, hardness or chemical functionality. The combination with other materials printable by this method is also possible, for example acrylates, polyurethanes or epoxides.

Thus, these objects have different colors or

Gradients, different hardness or hardness gradients or composite structures of materials of different chemical composition. Especially interesting are

Composite structures of hard and soft materials. Also, materials of various functionality are of interest, such as electrically conductive and non-conductive, or hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments in an object. pictures

Figure 1: Printing device for printing on a material

Figure 2: Printing device for printing three different materials

Figure 3: Printed object with several segments consisting of one material each

Figure 4: Printed object with several layers each consisting of a mixture of materials

Figure 5: printed test object consisting of silicones of different colors

Figure 6: printed test object consisting of silicones of different hardness

Detailed description of the invention

The invention relates to a method for the additive production of an object using a 3D printing device, the method comprising the following steps:

(1) layer by layer application of two or more printing compositions in the form of drops on a support plate, on one on it

positioned foreign component or a previously applied

Pressure-mass layer, wherein the pressure masses comprise the following materials:

(A) a pattern-forming printing material consisting of a first crosslinkable silicone rubber composition and (B) one or more additional structuring

Print materials;

(2) crosslinking or crosslinking of the applied printing compositions;

(3) Repeat steps (1) and (2) until the O ect is complete.

Suitable 3D printing devices are known in the art and are described for example in WO 2016/071241 AI. The 3D printing device preferably contains at least one Au wearing device, a source of electromagnetic radiation and a support plate.

Preferably, the discharge device is arranged so that pressure masses in the form of individual isolated drops (voxels) can be delivered. For discharging individual drops, the discharge device for each printing compound may comprise a nozzle which emits drops of liquid from printing compound in the direction of the carrier plate. Such nozzles are also referred to as jetting nozzles.

The discharge device preferably comprises jet valves with piezo elements. These allow the discharge of both low-viscosity materials, drop volume for drops of a few picoliters (pL) (2 pL correspond to a droplet diameter of about 0.035 μτη) can be realized, as well as medium and high viscosity materials such as silicone rubber compositions in particular, with piezo printheads with a nozzle diameter between 50 and 500 μτη are preferred and drop volume in the nanoliter range (1 to 100 nL) can be generated. With low-viscosity masses (less than 100 mPa-s), these printheads can deliver droplets with a very high dosing frequency (about 1 to 30 kHz), while with relatively high-viscosity masses (above 100 Pa-s), depending on the Theological properties (shear thinning behavior) dosing frequencies up to about 500 Hz can be achieved. Suitable jetting nozzles are known in the art and are described for example in DE 102011108799 AI.

The printing compositions are preferably applied by means of drop-on-demand (DOD) processes. In the drop-on-demand method, each printed drop is previously created specifically and stored at a location defined for this drop.

Figure 1 shows the basic structure of a

Printing device for printing a printing material. Via the feed 1 pressure mass is conveyed into the valve 3, which doses by appropriate operation of the printing material in the form of individual droplets from the nozzle 4. The droplets land on the support plate 7 or on before

printed layers and form the object 6. After printing all layers, the object 6 is completed. The functions of the valve controls a computer 2. The valve can in the

Printing device can be placed by appropriate movement units at each point of the three-dimensional space. The

Material is still chemically uncrosslinked after the dosage of the individual drops and is crosslinked after the formation of a layer or according to another crosslinking strategy. This can be done with heat-crosslinkable materials by supplying heat, for example by irradiation with infrared light. For light-crosslinkable materials, this can be done by

Exposure done, for example, with a UV light source. Of course, the crosslinking can also take place after printing parts of a layer or after printing several layers.

Figure 2 shows the basic structure of a

Printing device for printing a plurality of printing materials. The Printing device consists of several valves for one material. In principle, one could also dose several materials through a valve. However, this is impractical due to the need for long flushing times and high material losses. The different materials are dosed by the respective valves, each valve has its own

Has material supply. By way of example, Figure 3 shows three materials 8, 9 and 10 and the associated valves 11, 12 and 13. However, any number of materials and valves can be used. A limitation ultimately represents the size of the printing device.

In principle, therefore, many valves can be arranged. The control of the printing device can be done via a computer 2. The materials will be on the

Carrier plate 7, placed on a foreign component positioned on it or previously printed layers and form the object 6 after printing of all layers.

The printing compositions of the present invention comprise at least one pattern-forming printing material consisting of a first crosslinkable silicone rubber composition. In the context of the present invention, a structure-forming printing material is understood to mean a printing material which is used to construct the structure of the object itself. In comparison, various support materials can be used, which are removed after the construction of the object again.

The printing compositions of the present invention comprise, in addition to the first crosslinkable silicone rubber composition, one or more additional pattern-forming printing materials.

In a particular embodiment, the printing compositions comprise the following materials: (A) a pattern-forming printing material consisting of a first crosslinkable silicone rubber composition and

(Bl) a pattern-forming printing material consisting of a second crosslinkable silicone rubber composition, different from the first crosslinkable

Silicone rubber composition differs, and

optionally (B2) one or more additional pattern-forming printing materials.

Suitable silicone rubber compositions are known in the art. Particularly suitable are in

WO 2017/081028 A1, WO 2017/089496 Al and WO 2017/121733 Al described silicone rubber compositions.

The crosslinkable silicone rubber composition and / or optionally additional silicone rubber compositions in the uncrosslinked state preferably have a viscosity of 10 Pa.s or more, preferably 40 Pa.s or more, especially

preferably 100 Pa.s or more, more preferably 200 Pa.s or more and 1000 Pa.s or less, each measured at 25 ° C. and a shear rate of 0.5 s ^-1 .

The viscosity of the silicone rubber composition can be measured with a rheometer according to DIN EN ISO 3219: 1994 and DIN 53019, whereby a cone and plate system (cone CP50-2) with an opening angle of 2 ° can be used. A suitable rheometer is for example the "MCR 302" of the Fa.

Anton Paar; Graz, Austria. The calibration of the device can be done with a standard material, such as 10000 standard oil

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Brunswick,

Germany, be carried out. The silicone rubber compositions can be formulated in one or more components, preferably one-component.

Preferably, in the inventive

Method used silicone rubber compositions to addition-crosslinking silicone rubber compositions.

Addition-crosslinking silicone rubber compositions are typically prepared by reaction of unsaturated groups, e.g. Alkenyl groups with Si-H groups (Hydro ilylierung), crosslinked in the silicone rubber composition. The crosslinking can be either thermally and / or by UV or UV-VIS light

be induced. Such silicone rubber compositions are

for example from WO 2016/071241 Al and the references cited therein. The crosslinking is preferably brought about by UV / VIS-induced activation of a photosensitive hydrosilylation catalyst, with platinum complexes being preferred as catalysts. Numerous photosensitive platinum catalysts are known from the prior art, which are largely inactive with the exclusion of light and can be converted by irradiation with UV / VIS light in active at room temperature platinum catalysts.

As already mentioned above, the printing compositions according to the present invention additionally comprise one or more additional structure-forming printing materials. Here are the following

Materials particularly preferred: silicone gels, silicone resins, homopolymers or copolymers of monomers selected from the group consisting of acrylates, olefins, epoxides, isocyanates or nitriles, and polymer blends comprising one or more of the aforementioned polymers. For example, come

Polymers and copolymers of butadiene, acrylates, acrylonitrile, butyl, chloroprene, fluororubber, isoprene, natural rubber, Styrene, vinyl chloride, polyvinyl butyral or olefins in question. The printing compositions are preferably materials which, at least during processing, are in a flowable form and can be cured or crosslinked after discharge.

All printing compounds can be formulated in one or more components, preferably one-component. The structure-forming materials, preferably the first and second silicone rubber compositions, optionally other silicone rubber compositions, may be crosslinked, for example, in terms of Shore hardness, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, color, transparency, hydrophilicity and / or

Distinguish swelling behavior.

The structure-forming pressure masses include those above

preferably in an amount of 50% by weight or more, more preferably

70% by weight or more, very particularly preferably 90% by weight or more, in each case based on the total weight of

structure-forming pressure masses. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the structure-forming printing compositions consist exclusively of one or more

Silicone rubber compositions.

In a preferred embodiment, the printing compositions additionally comprise one or more support materials, which after

Completion of the construction of the object to be removed again.

The setting of support material may be required if the object has cavities, undercuts, overhanging, cantilevered or thin-walled parts, since the pressure masses can not be freely suspended in space. The support material fills up during the printing process volume volumes and serves as a base or as a scaffold to put on the pressure masses and harden. The support material is removed after completion of the printing process and releases the cavities, undercuts and overhanging, unsupported or thin-walled areas of the printed object. In addition, support material can also be provided at locations where it is not technically necessary. For example, components can be packed in support material in order to increase the quality of the printing result or to influence the surface quality of the printed product.

As a rule, a material deviating from the material of the object to be printed is used as the support material, eg. B. non-crosslinking and non-cohesive material. Depending on the geometry of the object, the necessary shape of the support material is calculated. When calculating the shape of the support material, various strategies can be used, for example, to use as little support material as possible or to increase the dimensional stability of the product.

If support material is used, the print head can have one or more further discharge devices for the support material or one or more further nozzles. Alternatively or additionally, a further print head with corresponding discharge devices can be provided for the discharge of support material. Suitable support materials are known in the art. Particularly suitable are support materials, as described in WO 2017/020971 AI.

The drops of the individual printing compounds are preferably applied so that one or more segments within the Object arise, each consisting of only one structure-forming printing material or support material.

Figure 3 shows an example printed object printed from three different materials 14, 15 and 16, where the object consists of three segments, each made of a material whose totality is the volume of the object. Here are the boundaries between the

sharply made of different materials.

In a further preferred embodiment, the

Drops of individual pressure masses applied so that one or more segments emerge within the object, each consisting of a mixture of two or more structure-forming

Printing materials exist and the mixing ratio of the structure-forming printing materials in each segment is constant.

Figure 4 shows an exemplarily printed object made up of five different layers 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21. Each layer was made up of two different ones

Materials composed by appropriate placement of individual droplets. The layers may consist of a layer of individual droplets and 0.05 to 1.0 mm thick or consist of several layers. For example, layer 17 contains 5% material 1 and 95% material 2, layer 18 contains 10%

Material 1 and 90% Material 2, Layer 19 contains 20% Material 1 and 80% Material 2, Layer 20 contains 25% Material 1 and 75% Material 2 and the last layer 21 contains 30% Material 1 and 70% Material 2. Thus results in a smooth transition from material 1 to material 2 from the first to the last layer. Figures 3 and 4 describe the structure only in

Principle. Any gradient with a different number of layers, segments, and materials can be created. The gradients can be arranged arbitrarily in space.

In a further preferred embodiment, the

Printing materials, wherein the mixing ratio of the structure-forming printing materials in each segment one

Gradients subject.

The drops of the individual structure-forming pressure masses can be placed anywhere in the three-dimensional space, whereby they combine homogeneously with each other after placement. Due to the homogeneous connection of the drops

between them can be made in a printing object, made of different materials and

Material mixtures exist.

In the process according to the invention, crosslinking or crosslinking of the applied printing composition takes place. This is preferably done by electromagnetic radiation. The action of the electromagnetic radiation on the pressure masses is preferably carried out location-selective or areal, pulsed or

continuous as well as constant or changeable

Intensity. It may be expedient to permanently irradiate the entire work area during printing, in order to achieve complete crosslinking, or to expose it to radiation only for a short time, in order to prevent incomplete crosslinking (crosslinking / crosslinking). Green strength), which may be accompanied by better adhesion of the individual layers.

The crosslinking or crosslinking of the printing compositions is preferably carried out thermally and / or by UV or UV / VIS radiation, very particularly preferably by UV or UV / VIS radiation.

UV radiation has a wavelength in the range of 100 nm to 380 nm, while visible light (VIS radiation) has a wavelength in the range of 380 to 780 nm.

Compared with thermal crosslinking, UV / VIS-induced crosslinking has advantages. On the one hand, the intensity, exposure time and place of action of the UV / VIS radiation can be precisely dimensioned, while the heating of the discharged structure-forming printing materials (as well as their subsequent cooling) is always delayed due to the relatively low thermal conductivity. Due to the intrinsically very high thermal expansion coefficients of the silicone rubber compositions, the thermal gradients inevitably present temperature gradients lead to mechanical stresses that can adversely affect the dimensional stability of the object formed, which can lead to unacceptable shape distortions in extreme cases.

The speed of the UV / VIS-induced crosslinking depends on numerous factors, in particular the type and concentration of the photosensitive catalyst, the intensity, wavelength and exposure time of the UV / VIS radiation, the transparency, reflectivity, layer thickness and composition of the printing mass and the temperature. For the curing of the UV / VIS-induced crosslinking silicone rubber compositions, light of wavelength 240 to 500 nm, more preferably 250 to 400 nm, particularly preferably 350 to 400 nm, particularly preferably 365 nm, is preferably used.

In order to achieve rapid crosslinking, which is to be understood as a crosslinking time at room temperature of less than 20 min, preferably less than 10 min, more preferably less than 1 min, it is advisable to use a UV / VIS radiation source with a power of between 10 mW / cm ² and 20,000 mW / cm ² , preferably between 30 mW / cm ² and 15,000 mW / cm ² , and a radiation dose between 150 mJ / cm ² and 20,000 mJ / cm ² , preferably between 500 mJ / cm ² and 10,000 mJ / cm ² . Within the scope of these power and dose values, area-specific irradiation times between a maximum of 2,000 s / cm ² and a minimum of 8 ms / cm ² can be achieved.

If printing materials are used which cure under UV / VIS action, the 3D printing device preferably has a UV / VIS exposure unit. In location-selective exposure, the UV / VIS source is arranged to be movable relative to the support plate and illuminates only selected areas of the object. In a planar exposure, the UV / VIS source is designed in a variant such that the entire object or an entire material layer of the object is exposed at once. In a preferred variant, the UV / VIS source is designed such that its light intensity or its energy can be variably adjusted and that the UV / VIS source at the same time exposes only a portion of the object, the UV / VIS source being such can be moved relative to the object that the entire object with the UV / VIS light, possibly in different intensity, can be exposed. For example, the UV / VIS source is designed for this purpose as a UV / VIS LED strip and is moved relative to the object or over the printed object. In the case of thermally crosslinkable printing compounds, crosslinking can be effected by IR radiation, for example by means of an (N) IR laser or an infrared lamp.

A cure strategy is used to accomplish the cure. Curing of the printing compositions preferably takes place after setting a layer, after setting several layers or directly during printing.

Curing the print masses directly during printing is referred to as a direct cure strategy. Become, for example, by UV / VIS radiation curable structure-forming

In contrast to other curing strategies, the UV / VIS source is active for a very long time, so that it is possible to work with much lower intensity, resulting in slow cross-linking of the object. This limits the heating of the object and leads to dimensionally stable objects, since no expansion of the object due to temperature peaks occurs. In the case of the pro-layer curing strategy, after the setting of each complete material layer, the radiation-induced crosslinking of the set material layer takes place. During this process, the freshly printed layer combines with the cured underlying printed layer. The curing does not take place immediately after the setting of a pressure mass, so that the pressure masses have time before curing to relax. By this is meant that the pressure masses can flow into one another, resulting in a smoother surface than the direct cure strategy.

The n-layer curing strategy is similar to the Pro-Layer curing strategy, but curing is done after n layers of material have been set, where n is a natural number. The time available for relaxing the pressure masses is further increased, which further improves the surface quality.

The printed object can be post-cured or post-processed after curing. The after-treatment is preferably selected from one or more of the following methods:

Heat treatment, surface coating, setting of cuts, parts and separation of segments and assembly of individual components. For example, a heat treatment of the component for 4 hours at 200 ° C take place. This corresponds to a tempering treatment typical for silicone elastomers. A particularly suitable tempering treatment is in WO 2010/015547 AI

described.

Furthermore, the models can be coated locally or globally after 3D printing, for example, the

Optimize surface properties of the model. For example, properties that can be optimized by a coating include surface roughness,

Coefficient of friction, color, transparency of the component,

Reduction of the step effect of 3D printing, application of a surface layer, which differs material-wise from the actual component, etc. Another possibility of the

Post processing is, for example, the setting of cuts, parts or separation of individual segments, or

Assembly of individual components. The present invention further relates to an object manufactured by the above-described 3D printing method. In this case, the object can also be produced by the combination of such a 3D printing method with at least one other additive or conventional production technology.

The printed article according to the invention comprises a

Silicone elastomer and one or more other materials wherein the silicone elastomer and the other materials are homogeneously bonded together. In a preferred

Embodiment consists of the invention printed object of a silicone elastomer, one or more others

Materials and optionally a foreign component, wherein the silicone elastomer, the other materials and the foreign component are homogeneously interconnected.

Preferably, the object printed according to the invention comprises two or more silicone elastomers which are homogeneous with one another

are connected. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention printed ect consists of two or more silicone elastomers, optionally other materials and optionally a foreign component, wherein the silicone elastomers, the other materials and the foreign component is homogeneous

connected to each other.

The object is preferably 50% by weight or more,

more preferably 70% by weight or more, most especially

preferably 90% by weight or more, of one or more

Silicone elastomers, each based on the total weight of

Object. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the object consists exclusively of one or more

Silicone elastomers. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the object is manufactured on the basis of a digital 3D model. The creation of the digital model can be done by design using a computer aided design (CAD) software. Also geometries from imaging techniques of

Medicine, such as computed tomography or

Magnetic resonance imaging, can serve as a starting point. Through appropriate segmentation, objects are taken over into the CAD software and further processed there. Scanning also allows digital objects to be created and imported into the CAD software. The file format can be selected in such a way that it becomes a new one through further data processing

Produce file format, from which the machine control for the printing device receives the necessary information to perform the 3D printing.

Typically, a standard tessellation language (STL) format is generated from the digital object. Many CAD systems include this interface or separate software is used. A description of the interface between construction and STL file format can be found in Chua Chee Kai, Gan GK Jacob and Tong Mei, Interface between CAD and Rapid Prototyping Systems, The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, August 1997, Volume 13, Issue 8, pp 571-576.

There are other file formats from which the software for controlling the printing device information about the

Texture of the object to be manufactured can take. In the present description of the invention, the STL file format is chosen representative of other file formats. This is not intended to be limiting; the method according to the invention can also be executed with other file formats.

If segments of different materials are provided for the object to be manufactured in the design, then there are various solutions for creating a digital one

Model to be printed from different materials.

For example, the object can be segmented into segments

divided into different materials, each segment has its own STL file, and the mathematical superimposition of the individual segments results in the object in its entire volume. The software of the printing device cuts the object into slices, giving each layer the information on which position to place which material, alternatively the object is present in its entire volume as an STL file, and the

Software of the printing device applies certain algorithms, according to which in each layer at certain positions

different materials are placed.

In the method according to the invention, the digital 3D model is preferably divided into segments for each printing mass and created by superimposing the individual segments.

In a further embodiment of the invention

Method, the digital 3D model preferably represents the entire object, and the pressure of the individual pressure masses via algorithms of software. The software of the printing device typically provides an instruction to control the printing device, after which the printing device prints one layer at a time, placing different materials at the designated positions.

The digital 3D model can be reworked digitally before printing the object. The post-processing of the digital

Object can be volume, network and / or point-based. For post-processing of digital models can

different programs and software environments are used, ranging from classic engineering tools such as CAD programs to intuitive manual design environments.

First, the network of surface models for further processing is examined for errors, cleaned up and, if necessary, smoothed. In order to be able to handle the data volume of the models, it is also desired to simplify the network by reducing the triangular surfaces. The above steps to

Net handling is due in iterative loops even after further model processing steps.

Examples

The following examples were prepared with a 3D printer (ACEO ^® Imagine Series 100, Wacker Chemie AG), which is adapted to print objects in the DOD process. The printer is equipped with software (Wacker Chemie AG ^® ACEO Studio software), the STL file formats for

can take over objects to be produced. A description of the

Construction and operation of the printer is in

WO 2016/071241 AI described. For the examples is the Printer has been equipped with three different valves. There were three different silicone compositions, which were prepared according to WO 2017/089496 AI, and a support material, which was prepared according to WO 2017/020971 AI used. The printer was set to a layer height of 0.4 mm and printed at a frequency of 200 Hz.

Example 1 The test object was a ACEO ^® logo consisting of a colorless base plate 50x15x2 mm, onto which a 3.2 mm high lettering "ACEO" was printed with 10 mm large letters.

From valve 1, first 5 layers of a transparent silicone 1 were printed. After each layer, the silicone 1 was crosslinked with UV light. Subsequently, the printer control switched to valve 2 and printed the lettering "ACEO" in 8 layers of a dark green silicone 2. Here, too, UV light was crosslinked after each layer

Test object from example 1. The object thus consisted of two different silicones printed one after the other in a printing process, which were homogeneously interconnected.

Example 2

The execution took place analogously to example 1.

The test object was an object with integrated function. The external dimensions were 35 x 15 x 25 mm. The object consisted of a housing segment, an inner segment with a grid structure and a non-return flap towards the upper opening. The inner grid structure formed a spring against the check valve. The object acted as a check valve. The outer Shore A hardness silicone housing of 60 was printed from valve 1, valve 2 printed one

inner lattice structure made of silicone Shore A hardness 40 and valve 3 necessary for the grid structure

Support material. The support material was removed after printing by washing with water. Figure 6 shows that

Test object from Example 2 from two perspectives. The object consisted of simultaneously printed in a printing segments of different silicones, which are homogeneous with each other

were connected.

The examples were able to show that it is possible with the method according to the invention to produce objects from different materials in one printing operation. Individual drops of material can be placed anywhere in three - dimensional space. These drops are homogeneously interconnected. Reference sign in the pictures

1 material feed

2 computers for control

3 valve

4 nozzle

5 drops of material

6 object

7 carrier plate

8 feed first material

9 feed second material

10 feed third material

11 valve for first material

12 valve for second material Valve for third material Segment first material Segment second material Segment third material first material layer second material layer third material layer fourth material layer fifth material layer

Claims

Claims:

A method of additive manufacturing of an object using a 3D printing apparatus, the method comprising the steps of:

positioned foreign component or a previously applied

(A) a pattern-forming printing material consisting of a first crosslinkable silicone rubber composition and

(B) one or more additional structuring

Print materials;

(2) crosslinking or crosslinking of the applied printing compositions;

(3) Repeat steps (1) and (2) until the object is completely assembled. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the structure-forming

Printing materials (B) additionally one or more of

following materials include:

Silicone gels, silicone resins, homopolymers or copolymers of monomers selected from the group consisting of acrylates, olefins, epoxides, isocyanates or nitriles, and

Polymer blends comprising one or more of the aforementioned polymers.

3. The method according to any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein the printing materials comprise the following materials:

(A) a pattern-forming printing material consisting of a first crosslinkable silicone rubber composition and (Bl) a pattern-forming printing material consisting of a second crosslinkable silicone rubber composition, different from the first crosslinkable

Silicone rubber composition, and optionally (B2) one or more additional ones

structure-forming printing materials;

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first and / or second crosslinkable silicone rubber composition has a viscosity of 10 Pa-s or more, preferably 40 Pa · s or more, more preferably 100 Pa-s or more, most preferably 200 Pa-s or more, each measured at

25 ° C and a shear rate of 0.5 s ^"1 .

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the crosslinking or crosslinking (a) thermally and / or (b) is induced by UV or UV-VIS light.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the printing compositions additionally comprise the following materials:

(C) one or more support materials, which are removed after completion of the construction of the object.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the

Drops of the individual printing materials are applied so that one or more segments arise within the object, each consisting of only one structure-forming printing material or support material.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the

Drops of the individual printing masses are applied so that one or more segments arise within the object, each of a mixture of two or more structuring Printing materials exist and the mixing ratio of the structure-forming printing materials in each segment is constant.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the

Drops of the individual printing masses are applied so that one or more segments within the object arise, each consisting of a mixture of two or more structure-forming printing materials, wherein the mixing ratio of the structure-forming printing materials undergo a gradient in each segment.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the object is post-treated or post-processed after printing.

A method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the post-treatment is selected from one or more of the following methods: heat treatment, surface coating, setting cuts, splitting and separating segments, and assembling individual components.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the object is manufactured based on a 3D digital model of the object.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the digital 3D model is divided into segments for each print mass and the digital 3D model by superimposing the individual

Segments is created.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the digital 3D model represents the entire object and the pressure of the individual

Pressure masses via algorithms of a software is done.

15. An object produced by a method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the object comprises a silicone elastomer and one or more other materials, wherein the

Silicone elastomer and the other materials homogeneous

connected to each other.

16. An object according to claim 15, wherein the object comprises two or more different silicone elastomers, each of which is homogeneously bonded together.