A Heating-Assisted Direct Ink Writing Method for Preparation of PDMS Cellular Structure with High Manufacturing Fidelity

In response to the fact that most of the current research on silicone 3D printing suffers from structure collapse and dimensional mismatch, this paper proposes a heating-assisted direct writing printing method for commercial silicone rubber materials for preparing silicone foam with enhanced fidelity. In the experimental processes, the effects of substrate temperature, printing pressure, and printing speed on the filament width were investigated using a controlled variable method. The results showed the following: (1) the diameter of silicone rubber filaments was positively correlated with the printing pressure and substrate temperature, but negatively correlated with the printing speed; (2) the filament collapse of the large filament spaced foams was significantly improved by the addition of the thermal field, which, in turn, improved the mechanical properties and manufacturing stability of the silicon foams. The heating-assisted direct writing process in this paper can facilitate the development of the field of microelectronics and the direct printing of biomaterials.

Automated summary

This study proposed a heating-assisted direct writing printing method for commercial silicone rubber materials, aiming to enhance the fidelity of silicone foam preparation. Experimental results showed that the addition of a thermal field significantly improved the collapse of silicone rubber filaments, thereby enhancing the mechanical properties and manufacturing stability of silicon foams.