Industrial 3D printing company Supernova has launched its new Pulse Production Platform for high-viscosity resins. The firm also unveiled Viscogels, a proprietary portfolio of photopolymer materials offering superior mechanical properties to competing resins.
The new platform features the Pulse One Viscous Lithography Manufacturing (VLM) 3D printer, Pulse Postprocessing Cell, and Pulse Control Center software. This end-to-end manufacturing suite is compatible with the company’s Viscogels lineup, which features twelve different materials spanning four photopolymer families (rigid composites, ductile materials, rubber, and silicone).
Supernova claims its new products will reduce tooling costs, improve customization capabilities, and enhance 3D printing productivity for batch production of end-use parts. Additionally, Viscogels reportedly reduce emissions of toxic volatile organic compounds (VOC) during 3D printing, addressing a growing challenge in the resin 3D printing market.
During the online launch event, Supernova’s CEO Roger Antunez outlined the company’s efforts to counter the growing market share of emergent Chinese 3D printer manufacturers. According to CONTEXT’s latest 3D printing market figures, professional users are increasingly adopting low-cost, Chinese-made 3D printers from the likes of Creality and Bambu Lab. The latter registered 336% YoY shipment growth in Q2 2024.
Antunez shared his concerns that most Western additive manufacturing companies have cut back on R&D investment, while “real breakthroughs often come from China.” He added that “Western companies are being wiped out by these Chinese new players” which offer “better technology and extremely low prices.”
To combat this, Supernova is bolstering its R&D initiatives and developing viscous materials that match the properties of conventional injection molding. Antunez believes this “materials first” approach will accelerate the adoption of its VLM additive manufacturing technology, unlocking industrial-grade parts at low costs.
“We are on a mission: to make impossible plastic molding runs possible,” added Antunez. “We are breaking through barriers to enable customers to produce industrial-grade components with advanced properties, while remaining cost-efficient regardless of production volume.”
Viscogels and the Pulse Production Platform will begin shipping in Fall 2025. Supernova will showcase its new products next week at Formnext 2024 in hall 12.1, booth C62.
Viscogels: a new high-viscosity resin portfolio
Supernova has classified its Viscogels into four material families. The Rigid Composites family is comparable to glass-filled PA6, ABS and Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). These materials are designed to provide strength, stiffness and dimensional stability.
The Ductile family resembles polypropylene, PVC and PA11. These formulations reportedly offer high-impact resistance and elongation before breaking.
The Rubber Viscogels family seeks to meet more flexible needs. They feature high tear strength and elasticity, matching the performance of EPDM, soft TPUs and TPEs.
Finally, the Silicone family mirrors silicone rubbers. They offer resistance to temperatures ranging from minus 60℃ to over 200℃.
Viscogel materials are highly viscous, with formulations starting at 20,000 cP and some reaching over 1 million cP. Conventional resin 3D printers, on the other hand, generally process photopolymer materials below 1000 cP.
The high viscosity of Viscogels is achieved by formulating the materials with at least 80% oligomers, 4 times more than typical 3D printing resins. This reportedly allows the 3D printable materials to rival the tensile strength, impact resistance, and temperature resistance of molded plastics such as PA6, Polypropylene (PP), EPDM, and liquid silicone rubber.
Thanks to their high viscosity, Viscogels can incorporate higher loadings of solid additives like ceramics and metals without compromising processability. They are also compatible with a wider variety of additive shapes, further enhancing the strength and durability of 3D printed parts.
According to Robert Young, Supernova’s Director of Materials, water absorption and chemical resistance are “the biggest challenges that prevent the adoption of photopolymer additive manufacturing.”
Low-viscosity resins create a porous structure, allowing liquids and chemicals to be absorbed into the material, which damages the properties of 3D printed parts. The high oligomer content of Viscogels combats this, creating a denser polymer matrix which is less porous. For instance, Supernova’s new materials exhibit a water absorption of less than 0.5%.
Viscogels also significantly reduce emissions of VOCs, which are harmful to humans. The potential health effects of these chemicals range from headaches and nausea to kidney damage and cancer.
In photopolymer 3D printing, VOC emissions are mainly caused by monomers within the resin material. Young explained that some monomers can become trapped in the polymer matrix during curing. These uncured monomers migrate to the surface of the 3D printed part and release into the air.
Viscogels possess a lower monomer content compared to traditional low-viscosity photopolymers. This reportedly ensures that more monomers fully cure within the material, significantly reducing VOC emissions. Young added that this allows Viscogels to meet strict industry requirements, ensuring “safer, cleaner and more sustainable end parts.”
Supernova’s new end-to-end production platform
Due to their extremely high viscosity, Viscogels can only be processed using Supernova’s VLM technology. To 3D print these materials, Supernova has developed its Pulse Production Platform, incorporating a new 3D printer, post-processing unit, and software.
The Pulse One VLM 3D printer features an XY resolution of 46µm, a build volume of build volume of 350 x 200 x 300 mm, and a Z resolution range of 50 – 200μm. It can reportedly achieve a throughput of 5 kg/hour, supporting batch production applications.
The Pulse One is unique within the resin 3D printing space due to its dual-material 3D printing capabilities. It can simultaneously combine two materials in a single layer for multi-material parts, or 3D print a secondary support material. VLM is currently developing a fully water-soluble support material to automate the support removal process.
Supernovas’ Pulse Postprocessing Cell is an automated post-processing unit which washes and cures parts 3D printed on the Pulse One. It can reportedly process up to 24 builds per day and employs thermal and UV curing to achieve optimal mechanical properties. The cell boasts automated quality control at each step, ensuring all 3D printed batches are processed correctly. Additionally, RFID tracking ensures traceability throughout the workflow.
This traceability and quality control, along with build preparation and slicing, is managed by the Pulse Control Center software. This platform reportedly ensures part repeatability by tracking the production process. Its algorithm can detect defects during the 3D printing process and automatically make corrections to maintain high production standards.
Developments in resin 3D printing
Supernova’s Viscogels are the latest 3D printing resins to enter the additive manufacturing market.
Last month, 3D printing materials producer polySpectra launched Cyclic Olefin Resin (COR) Zero, its new manufacturing-grade resin that can be used with affordable 3D printers. The company claims that this material brings industrial-level production capabilities into home workshops and small businesses.
COR Zero reportedly offers a cost-effective alternative to injection molding for makers, designers, and engineers. It is optimized for applications like mechanical components, fluidic parts, electronic enclosures, and wearables such as glasses and podiatry inserts. The resin also seeks to tackle common challenges relating to brittleness and thermal instability. Compatible with desktop DLP and LCD 3D printers, COR materials combine toughness, heat resistance, and chemical durability. Specifically, it boasts a tensile strength of 53 MPa, a modulus of 2175 MPa, and an elongation at a break of 18%.
Elsewhere, Formlabs Dental, the dental business unit of Resin 3D printer manufacturer Formlabs, recently received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Premium Teeth Resin. This allows dental professionals in the US to 3D print dental components, such as single units of crowns, inlays, onlays, veneers, and up to seven-unit temporary bridges, with the resin.
Launched in January 2024, Premium Teeth Resin is a nano-ceramic-filled biocompatible material for realistic dental parts that mimic the translucency and opalescence of natural teeth. The resin is compatible with Form 3B+, Form 3BL, and Form 4B 3D printers, and has also been cleared for use in the EU, UK, Switzerland, and Canada.
Read all the news from Formnext 2024.
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Featured image shows Supernova’s Pulse One 3D printer. Photo via Supernova.
