SUTD – Vincent Sebastian Joseph, Theo Calais, Thileepan Stalin, Snehal Jain, Naresh Kumar Thanigaivel, Naresh D. Sanandiya and Pablo Valdivia y Alvarado
These newly developed resins are tougher and will also allow for more robust integration of mechatronic components in 3D printed multi-material structures.
Design and fabrication of a bat-wing inspired multi-material hybrid structure. (a) Illustration of the structural design. (b) Direct-ink-writing of the hybrid structure. (c) Cured structure (area of ~90 cm 2 per wing, membrane thickness ~0.7 mm, total arm thickness ~3.5 mm). (d) Flexibility and cohesiveness of the wing structure under small strains. (e) Flexibility and cohesiveness of the wing structure under large strains. (f) Wings mounted on actuation mechanism.
In a study published in Applied Materials Today, researchers from Singapore have developed the largest range of silicone and epoxy hybrid resins for the 3D printing of wearable devices, biomedical equipment, and soft robotics. The range of tunable functionally graded materials, which displayed over five orders of magnitude of elastic modulus, demonstrated excellent interfacial toughness, higher precision in complex structures and better fabrication control for the integration of mechatronic components.
You can find more details at https://www.sutd.edu.sg/Research/Research-News/2021/4/SUTD-Breaks-New-Ground-in-3D-Printed-Soft-Robotics