Reactive Silicone Inks for 3D Printing Using Microfluidic Mixers

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3D printing (additive manufacturing) is a disruptive technology making rapid inroads into commercial print-on-demand manufacturing and into the community. Silicones used in applications ranging from contact lenses to computer keyboard springs. They cure into rubbers too slowly to be used as 'inks' in 3D printers. We propose to develop rapidly curing silicone inks that can be printed directly from current 4-color inkjet printers and using microfluidic mixers we develop, 4-color printing of mixed silicone pastes from commercial 3D printers. Many advantages will accrue from these reactive inks. They will be used as surface treatments of existing devices based on silicone or other materials. More importantly, print-on-demand devices can be directly made from silicone in which the physical properties can be broadly tuned in a spatially-controlled manner. Thus, hardness, adhesiveness, refractive index, water wettability and other features can be encoded into different parts of the device. Initially, single coatings will be extended to multipass coatings for microfluidics and ophthalmic applications. With the paste printer, larger biomedical devices can be prepared. This project will combine Brook's synthetic expertise with Selvaganapathy's expertise in microfluidics and 3D printing, and with strong support from our three supporting companies: Structur3d Printing a startup developing printer nozzles to 3D print pastes; Silcotech, a leader in silicone injection molding who will help with mixing protocols; and, Siltech, the largest company in Canada making functional silicones will assist with scale up of the ink technology. The sponsors will allow HQP to spend part of their research time in company facilities to expedite development. An important consequence of this is the exposure the HQP will gain in working in an industrial environment. The proposed work has benefits Canada through the development of commercializable 3D printing technology of functional silicones and the training of market ready HQP because of the technical, critical thinking and problem solving skills they learn through their direct interaction with our industrial sponsors.