ACEO® Imagine Printers
Our Imagine Printers are the result of hand-in-hand development of material, hardware and software at Wacker Chemie AG in Germany. We carefully evaluated all methods to 3D print highly viscous silicone polymers and developed a drop-on-demand solution to ensure complete freedom of design. Our technology is the ideal solution for manufacturing of individual objects as well as serial production.
Silicone Elastomers
Our silicone elastomers are inorganic synthetic rubbers. They offer a unique combination of chemical and mechanical properties such as hardness or color variation, which they maintain throughout the printing process – a result that cannot be achieved by organic elastomers.
Our 3D-printed silicone objects are comparable with other methods like injection molding or rapid prototyping.
ACEO® Printing Process
The ACEO® technology is based on a drop-on-demand principle. The print head deposits single silicone voxels on a building platform. These voxels merge smoothly into a homogeneous surface. After each layer, the curing process is activated by UV light. A three-dimensional object is printed layer by layer with the use of support material to create complex structures, overhangs or cavities. Once the object is 3D-printed and removed from the building platform, the support material is washed off with water. The object is subsequently post-cured to remove volatiles and achieve the final mechanical properties.