Three-dimensional body implants including a hydrogel, which includes cross-linked alginate and gelatin, and in particular breast implants. The hydrogel of the implants has a mechanical strength of 1 kPa to 1000 kPa, and the hydrogel of the implants may further include fibrinogen. The implants include a porous zone, and the implants are acellular, i.e., free of cells during their manufacture.

A prosthetic orthopaedic component includes a porous three dimensional structure. The porous three dimensional structure includes post-manufacture residual particles that are to be removed. Methods are therefore disclosed for removing the residual particles and analyzing the particles.

Porous and microporous parts prepared by additive manufacturing as disclosed herein are useful in medical and non-medical applications. The parts are prepared from a composition containing both a solvent soluble component and a solvent insoluble component. After a part is printed by an additive manufacturing process it is exposed to solvent to extract solvent soluble component away from the printed part, resulting in a part having surface cavities.

A sponge type cleaning device includes a sponge type cleaning tank, a sponge capable of retaining a cleaning agent (a liquid substance), a sample retaining structure retaining a model material (a sample), a movement mechanism capable of moving the sample retaining structure freely forward and backward with respect to the sponge, a cleaning agent supply mechanism supplying the cleaning agent to the sponge type cleaning tank, a rinsing liquid supply mechanism supplying a rinsing liquid to the sponge type cleaning tank, a waste liquid containing tank containing water discharged from the sponge type cleaning tank, a liquid level sensor provided in the sponge type cleaning tank, and a control mechanism controlling each of the mechanisms.

A method of cleaning residual resin from an additively manufactured object, includes: (a) enclosing an additively manufactured object in an inner chamber of a centrifugal separator, the additively manufactured object including a light polymerized resin with a surface coating of viscous, unpolymerized, residual resin; (b) flooding the chamber with a volatile organic solvent vapor without contacting liquid organic solvent to the object, the vapor present in an amount sufficient to reduce the viscosity of the residual resin; and (c) spinning the additively manufactured object in the chamber to centrifugally separate at least a first portion of the residual resin from the object.

The present invention relates to methods of producing polymer fibers and polymer fiber products and materials recovery from these processes. It is an object of this invention to produce polymer fibers and products that include these fibers using selective dissolution of multicomponent fiber and to recover the dissolved polymer and solvent for subsequent use.

A device includes a coater, a dispenser, and a treatment portion. The coater is to coat, layer-by-layer, a build material relative to a build pad to form a 3D object. The dispenser is to at least dispense a fluid including a first at least potentially electrically conductive material in at least some selected locations of an external surface of the 3D object. The treatment portion is to treat the 3D object to substantially increase electrically conductivity on the external surface of the 3D object at the at least some selected locations.

A method of forming a three-dimensional object is carried out by: (a) providing a carrier and an optically transparent member having a build surface, the carrier and the build surface defining a build region therebetween; (b) filling the build region with a polymerizable liquid, the polymerizable liquid including a mixture of (i) a light polymerizable liquid first component, and (ii) a second solidifiable component that is different from the first component; (c) irradiating the build region with light through the optically transparent member to form a solid polymer scaffold from the first component and also advancing the carrier away from the build surface to form a three-dimensional intermediate having the same shape as, or a shape to be imparted to, the three-dimensional object, and containing the second solidifiable component carried in the scaffold in unsolidified and/or uncured form; and (d) concurrently with or subsequent to the irradiating step, solidifying and/or curing the second solidifiable component in the three-dimensional intermediate to form the three-dimensional object.

The present invention refers to a method for polishing polyamide objects obtained by additive manufacturing or 3D printing techniques, which comprises immersion of the polyamide object in a mixture of formic acid and dichloromethane at room temperature for a period of time comprised between 5 seconds and 6 minutes. This method allows effectively elimination or reduction of the roughness of the polyamide objects obtained by additive manufacturing or 3D printing techniques, for example, obtained by techniques such as the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) with a simple procedure which does not require neither high temperatures nor extended treatment times. The present invention also refers to the object obtainable according to such method.

A system treats uneven surfaces of additive manufactured objects to improve the transparency and glossiness of the surfaces. The system operates an actuator to dip the additive manufactured object into a bath of fluid material that is the same as the material used to form the uneven surface to smooth the surface of the object and operates a sprayer to apply another fluid material to a surface of the object that is identified as being rougher based on the object's geometric data. A heater is provided to dry non-UV curable material applied to the object and a source of UV radiation is provided to cure UV curable material applied to the object.