Considering the complexity of 3D printing a unique material like silicone, which requires special 3D printers, it’s no wonder that more companies are turning to 3D printing service companies to deliver parts to order.
If you’re not in a position to purchase your own silicone 3D printer, there are more opportunities than ever to order your custom-made parts in silicone — with several services provided by the silicone 3D printer makers themselves.
Before we take a look at the top services to print your silicone parts, consider if you really need 100% silicone for your parts. If another super flexible material will do, this dramatically increases your part service provider options. For example, elastic resins can have silicone-like properties with a Shore value as low as 50A-65A and are suitable for prototyping parts normally produced with silicone. (Silicones generally fall between 10A and 80A Shore durometer hardness.) Elastic resins, often containing silicone, produce parts that will bend, stretch, compress, and hold up to repeated cycles without tearing.
TissueMatrix, a silicone-like material from Stratasys for medical models available on models-to-order at Axial3D (Source: Stratasys)Well-known 3D printer maker Carbon, for example, offers a silicone blend resin material called SIL 30, which is a soft, biocompatible, and tear-resistant silicone urethane elastomer approved for skin-contact applications, the company says. Targeted toward manufacturers of sports apparel and wearables, Carbon’s SIL 30 is also available from 3D print services Xometry and Fast Radius, among others you can find in the guide to resin 3D printing service providers linked below.
Another 3D printing giant, Stratasys, offers a resin called Agilus for its PolyJet machines (available at various service providers) that features a rubber-like look, feel, and function and a Shore hardness of 30. The company’s TissueMatrix is another super soft and flexible resin designed to provide a realistic feel to medical models. It’s are available for on-demand patient-specific medical modeling through Stratasys’ service with Axial3D.
Lastly, Chromatic 3D Materials launched a 3D printing service in March 2023 for its rubber-like ChromaFlow polyurethane resin with a Shore A Hardness 50.
Pure Silicone 3D Printing Services
Spectroplast
Spectroplast is not only a 3D printer maker but also an on-demand service. In fact, the company has printed nearly a million silicone parts and says its core business is silicone-as-a-service.
All parts are made in Spectroplast’s production facility in Switzerland and shipped worldwide, but the company plans to open a US facility in the coming years. US-based service provider Protolabs recently announced a partnership with Spectroplast to 3D print customer parts. Xometry in the US also offers Spectroplast, and you can also order Spectroplast parts from Germany-based service provider Protiq.
Elkem
Norway-based silicone material maker, Elkem, also offers a silicone 3D printing service.
Elkem Silicones has been active in the silicone industry for over 60 years making customized formulations and unique silicone technology solutions, including 3D printing. In fact, Elkem Silicones developed a new series of customized silicones: AMSil especially designed for use by 3D printers. Common applications include seals & gaskets, valves, anatomic modeling, and prosthetics.
Elkem Silicones has developed a production process based on extrusion principles called Liquid Deposition Modeling (LDM). This process allows using a new series of customized silicone materials: the AMSil series. You can design high-performance parts with 100% silicones with complex geometries and overhangs that are impossible to achieve using traditional die molds and machining to create elastomeric parts or objects by direct printing.
3D Alchemy
3D Alchemy is a UK-based additive manufacturing service company that offers “100% pure LSR silicone” with ISO certification for 3D printing. Their silicone 3D printing process allows for complex geometries using a separate soluble support material which is then washed away post-build.
3D-Printed silicone is currently available in a translucent white for Shore A values 20A. 35A 50A and 60A. 60A parts are also available in Black. Custom colors are available, subject to minimum order size and the silicone has biocompatibility certifications to ISO 10995-5:2009 and ISO 10993-10:2010.
Xometry
Xometry started its operations in 2013, but in less than a decade, they’ve grown to a global network of more than 5,000 suppliers for both additive and traditional manufacturing.
When it comes to silicone, Xometry offers both a 100% silicone material through Sepctroplast, and also a silicone-like material from 3D printer maker Carbon, which is a silicone blend resin material, SIL 30, which is a soft, biocompatible, and tear-resistant silicone urethane elastomer approved for skin-contact applications.
All 3D printed parts produced in the U.S. through Xometry are eligible for free two-day shipping or ground shipping, and expedited next-day delivery is also available. The company can also ship parts internationally and has production partners in multiple countries. The Xometry website offers instant quotes based on an uploaded CAD model and selected options.
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