Formlabs Dental SG resin is a Class 1 biocompatible material (it’s the only consumer available 3D printing material I know of that is directly approved by the FDA). This resin is also designed to be sterilized in an autoclave, so it might be worth looking into using this; it seems like a good fit for what you want to do from the vague descriptions. More info can be found about it from Formlabs’ website 144, or reach out to them directly.
Regarding the ABS M30i, I’d suggest reaching out to Stratasys and see what they have to say regarding autoclaving. It would be a much better material choice in terms of strength, so it might be worth it to use an alternative sterilization method.
I would second this. Biocompatible materials are still mostly relegated to high end industrial machines, but the Formlabs Dental SG resin is probably the most accessible and available bio compatible material for consumer printing. If you contact a Hub with a Form2 printer, they might be willing to special order that resin for you (if they do not already have it), but it is pretty expensive stuff comparably. Best of luck!
It is a resin I only stock for special orders because of that price tag. But from what I’ve seen of it, it prints beautifully and works exactly as it is designed to.
Did I say “only used by”?! I said “commonly used by” big difference… besides when you see hospitals and even vets using 3d printing is usually done in titanium… so when I read the original post I thought it might be some 3d printed Piercing type jewellery.
I’d second the use of resin designed for this purpose. Just about any thermoplastic you can print with (except PEEK maybe, and not many printers print this) will deform at the temps you’ll want to autoclave, so I’d say FDM printing is out. Polymerized resin should handle this much better and should also have a smoother surface with less gaps for bugs to hide in. Quite a bit more expensive than FDM but that’s medicine I guess.
Formlabs resin can be printed on any SLA or DLP style printer; Formlabs will most likely recommend the Form2, which is the printer I use. I highly recommend it.
I think this is something you’re going to have to experiment with. Radiation (Gamma or E-Beam) will cause embrittlement and color changes in most plastics as there’s a lot of cross linking of polymer structures. Some people tint polycarbonate plastic an ice blue color because it will turn a sickly yellow otherwise.
I can’t offer anything about Ethelene Oxide except it’s not very practical in small batches, and autoclave is probably not an option for any thermoplastic you can print.
As others here have said, SLA or DLP is far better than FDM printing if you want to reduce surface defects. FDM will leave large spaces for contaminants and bacteria to grow within, but the resin produces a much smoother surface at a microscopic level.
