Sep 11, 2018 | By Thomas
Carbon, a Silicon Valley-based digital Manufacturing company, announced the launch of its first medical-grade material: Medical Polyurethane 100 (MPU 100). Similar to Carbon’s rigid polyurethane materials, MPU 100 is a medical-grade, two part resin that can produce isotropic, rigid plastics with Digital Light Synthesis. It is designed for components of medical systems, skin-contact devices, drug-contact devices, and single-use medical device applications.
Key features of MPU 100 include:
- Engineering-grade material with excellent abrasion resistance
- Tested to USP VI and ISO 10993-5 and -10 biocompatibility
- Compatible with ethylene oxide, e-beam, and gamma sterilization methods
- Maintains its biocompatibility post-sterilization
- Compatible with common disinfectants
- Certificate of Analysis available
- Master file available with FDA
“With MPU 100, Carbon is enabling new capabilities for medical device manufacturers by providing the mechanical properties, biocompatibility, sterilization compatibility, and chemical resistance to produce safe and reliable end-use products for patients,” said Jason Rolland, Vice President of Materials at Carbon. “The life sciences and medical device industries show enormous promise for using 3D printing for production at scale, and we will continue to prioritize the development of next-generation materials in this segment.”
MPU 100 is offered only in 800ML cartridges to Carbon customers in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
Carbon has also announced its partnership with additive manufacturing company Fast Radius to reimagine the design of Steelcase’s award-winning SILQ office chair. The two companies worked with Steelcase to design, engineer and print a custom arm cap, using 3D printing processes to align the design of the chair with human physiology.
“Ever since SILQ first debuted, we have continued to experiment with enhancements to the chair’s design, living up to our reputation of pursuing innovation,” said Bruce Smith, Steelcase Director of Global Design. “The additive manufacturing processes from Fast Radius and Carbon enabled us to streamline the already-unique aesthetics of the chair with a lattice structure that also condensed three parts into one.”
Additive manufacturing could greatly reducing the time Steelcase took to bring the product to life. “For a design-driven company like Steelcase, this was crucial,"said Lou Rassey, Fast Radius Chief Executive Officer. "Unlike traditional lengthy and expensive design cycles, the additive manufacturing process meant Steelcase could go through as many redesigns as needed to get it right. In this instance, we went from the initial idea with around 100 variables and produced over 12 unique designs in just eight weeks.”
According to Steelcase, every part of the chair is designed to react intuitively to an individual person’s body and movements. The additive manufactured armrest was designed in four zones that provided different attributes based on how a person’s arm might interact with it. Although each zone was designed separately, Carbon’s proprietary Digital Light Synthesis technology enabled Fast Radius to print the entire armrest as one cohesive part, and the use of lattices reduced material usage by up to 70 percent without sacrificing performance.
At NeoCon 2018, Steelcase featured multiple SILQ chairs —including the option with additive manufactured armrests—in their showroom. The showroom won Best in Competition at NeoCon, and the SILQ concept won an Innovation Award. The armrest itself is currently undergoing more enhancements before it can officially hit the market.
Posted in 3D Printing Materials
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