Italian 3D printing company DWS are known for their range of 3D printers that produce high-fidelity resin prints. Indeed we recently took a look at many of these fantastic pieces shown during CES.
Here we take a closer look at some their 57 proprietary materials. Irix Digital Stone is suitable for direct 3D printing to a finished product – not a prototype, or a cast, but a customer-ready piece of jewelry.
Tailor-made material qualities
All DWS materials and resins are manufactured in-house at their site in Vicenza, Northern Italy. This is to ensure the company have full control over the quality and finish of their products and refine their performance to complement their range of 3D printers.
Irix is a nano-filled ceramic material with good tensile strength and high surface hardness. On the ShoreD hardness scale Irix measures 92, whereas for example human bone has a range of 85-95. These qualities give the Digital Stone ideal properties for the everyday wear and tear that would occur on a favorite piece of jewelry.
DWS have developed Irix with this specific purpose and practical application in mind, making it available in black, white, coral, turquoise and ivory. The color profiles have been created to match well with the metals used in jewelry making too, and so keep up with moving fashions.
Complex geometries 3D printed in stone
In collaboration with Fiera di Vicenza, a convention center that hosts the annual International Jewelry Show VICENZAORO, DWS 3D printed a multi-layer pendant in Irix to demonstrate its capabilities.
Moving .gif shows an Irix pendant from DWS SYSTEMS designed in collaboration with Fiera di Vicenza. Clip via DWS Systems on YouTube
Combining 3D CAD modeling with the advantages of a material such as Digital Stone, DWS allows designers to ‘make the impossible’ in their 3D prints. It facilitates the design of geometrically complex and almost supernatural shapes which is useful for striking fashion pieces, but can also have industrial applications.
The intriguing properties of the material could be used in architecture to give a true-to-life stone finish to a scale model. It could also help to envisage the structure of sculptures, and warrants exploration for crockery and other hard-wearing products.
3D Printing Industry are eager to get our hands on some of the Irix Digital Stone to try it out for ourselves, you’ll see the results on our social media channels here and here.
Featured image shows 3D printed rings made using DWS Irix Digital Stone. Photo via DWS.
