ACEO® offers 3D multi-material printing of one part with up to four different materials. The print process enables the combination of different hardness and/or colors. For 3D parts that need support material, three different materials can be used in combination with the support material. Any material that ACEO® offers can be used. These include ACEO® Silicone GP with hardness ranging from 20–60, electrically conductive silicone and our new epoxy material.
| Multi Material Options | ACEO Silicone GP 20–60 Sh A |
ACEO Silicone Electrically Conductive |
DELO Katiobond AM6677 | ACEO Silicone Support Material |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Silicone/Silicone |
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Silicone/Electrically Conductive |
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Silicone/Epoxy |
Multi-Material Combinations
Silicone/Silicone
ACEO® has offered multi-material printing with different silicone combinations since a few years now. Customers increasingly discover the advantages of combining different hardness to realize highly functional parts. One example is epitheses where mimicking biomechanics can be even more realistic using different hardness, see the Ear story. A more technical application area is seals and closures where design with different hardness and/or color coding can greatly improve part functionality.
Silicone/Epoxy
ACEO® new-to-the-world technology! Multi-material printing with silicones is now also possible in combination with Epoxy thermoset material. WACKER ACEO® and DELO Industrial Adhesives worked together to enable this unique combination of hard and soft materials. The technology uses DELO’s specially developed KATIOBOND AM6677 grade that can be printed with ACEO’s drop-on-demand process. It is now possible to realize complex geometries where hard Epoxy material can be encapsulated by soft Silicones (note: no adhesion between the materials). This opens a whole new world of opportunities where stiffness in combination with soft material is required. Potential applications for the Epoxy material are reinforcement beams, connectors, threads, etc.
Silicone/Electrically Conductive
Since the last live formnext ACEO® has launched it’s electrically conductive silicone. This material can be printed in combination with general purpose silicone and support material to realize sophisticated part designs. Customer use this technology to realize flexible sensor functionality as the electrical current varies with the elongation of the silicone. See demonstrator. Others use the resistance of the electrically conductive silicone material to generate heat which allows flexible heating pads in complex designs.