Title: Nozzle dispensing additive manufacturing of polysiloxane: dimensional control

Authors: Farzad Liravi; Robin Darleux; Ehsan Toyserkani

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada ' Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada; Mechatronics Department, École Normale Supérieure de Rennes, Ker lann Campus, Robert Schuman Ave., 35170 Bruz, France ' Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada

Abstract: Polysiloxane (silicone) has been widely used in production of in-vivo prostheses due to its unique properties such as biocompatibility. Traditional methods of producing polysiloxane prostheses are mostly based on casting. These methods are time consuming and require high technical expertise. Moreover, the process can be tedious for the patients as it requires their presence in the design and fabrication steps. Using additive manufacturing for production of polysiloxane prostheses eliminate the need for presence of patient and reduce the production time. However, additive manufacturing has been mostly used for production of moulds for polysiloxane casting. In this study, a nozzle dispensing method for rapid manufacturing of polysiloxane products is assessed. Owing to importance of dimensional accuracy of prosthetic products in micro-scale, the effects of process parameters on final dimensions of printed parts have been investigated using design of experiments to optimise parameter values. A t-test is also employed to validate optimisation model.

Keywords: polysiloxane prostheses; additive manufacturing; direct write technologies; nozzle dispensing systems; DOE; design of experiments; dimensional control; silicone; biocompatibility; rapid manufacturing; prosthetic products; process parameters; optimisation models; bioengineering.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRAPIDM.2015.073546

International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing, 2015 Vol.5 No.1, pp.20 - 43

Received: 02 Sep 2015
Accepted: 21 Oct 2015
Published online: 11 Dec 2015 *

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