Sterne Elastomers is a silicone material company based in Cavillon, France. Recently, the company has developed a new silicone 3D printer named SiO-Shaping 1601. The material used in the machine is silicone resin cured by 100% UV at low temperature. It is understood that the target customers of SiO-Shaping 1601 include medical equipment manufacturers.
Sterne specializes in liquid and high consistency injection moulding silicone resin production and has been supplying silicone resin products since 1996. According to the company, their new 3-D printing technology combines FDM and SLA and currently produces components with a minimum thickness of 0.25 mm. "It took us a year and a half to develop this technology, which can be used to produce products with very high precision and very complex geometry." Sterne's Material Engineer Anthony Pellafol explains. Next year, the technology will achieve a resolution of up to 0.1 millimetres. Sterne believes that the process can provide solutions for companies that need a single iteration of design and companies that are not ready to invest in expensive tools and castings for injection moulding.
SiO-Shaping 1601 silicone 3D printer has two obvious advantages. Firstly, UV curing of 3D printers is instantaneous, which makes the printing process fast and efficient. Secondly, curing can be carried out at low temperatures, which means that small electronic devices such as LED can be safely embedded in printed parts.


Sterne believes that the new resin silicone 3D printer is a better choice for their customers than other production methods.