Ira3D Enters the Medical Market With Comprehensive Lineup of 3D Printing Filament Offerings

If you’ve been wondering about what Italy has on the table for 3D printing in comparison to the rest of the world, just take a look at Ira3D—and they have so much going on, you may not have time for quite a while to check out anything else. Making that ‘Made in Italy’ tag proud, this is a company with a strong team, allowing for tremendous versatility in their offerings. Their level of dedication to seeing that users on all levels have their 3D printing needs met is evident, as we’ve been covering, from their new Poetry X Center, offering an all-in-one R&D package, to an all-in-one manufacturing solution, offering comprehensive 3D printing tools for businesses, as well as a host of specialized new filaments and even a new process for coating whatever 3D models you’d like with chromium plating.

The Ira3D Poetry Lab

Now, Ira3D is tackling the needs of those in the medical industry. Their team has pinpointed this as an area that while certainly receiving a lot of attention is not reaping all the benefits of 3D printing that it currently should. With this challenge in mind, the Ira3D team has created a range of new 3D printing materials specifically for the medical industry, to include making items for shielding patients from radiology, artificial skin for training purposes, prosthetics, functional and larger components, parts that require biocompatibility, and food safe components.

“Ira3D is now present in the main applications, ranging from the creation of ultra-personalized prostheses with advantages in terms of time and cost, up to the creation of useful models to facilitate the work of surgeons,” Marco Cigolini of Ira3D told 3DPrint.com.

The following materials allow for these new innovations:

• Irabs Bismuto – a hybrid metallic filament, this material can be used in any desktop 3D printer that is compatible with ABS but the resulting parts are very similar to metal in density. The parts printed with Irabs Bismuto do however though exhibit the same type of flexibility users find with ABS. It’s nontoxic and recommended by Ira3D for use in making objects for shielding patients from radiation, offering the benefit of the absence of lead. It was specifically designed for use in medical grade products.
• Gummify Skin – a rubber filament that creates an artificial skin effect. It allows for easy printing and does not offer challenges due to recoil. Indeed, as medical students and teachers are in constant search of proper materials for training, they will have found a great resource in this material which offers a texture very close to that of the human body. Gummify Skin comes in four colors: pink leather (to simulate the skin of babies), black leather, beige leather and white leather. According to Ira3D, this material was made in partnership with medical students for the best texture and color quality.
• NYLON 680, meant for FFF printers, is made to be used for industries such as medical, dental, food processing, robotics, and veterinary. It has been FDA approved for use with indirect food contact and is compatible with recommended sterilizing procedures. This material offers very low shrinkage and is recommended for use with products that must be functional. According to Ira3D, Nylon 680 also offers a self-lubricating surface as required by clinical and mechanical industry sectors.
• Nylon Protesis – a highly resistant, flexible material with high viscosity for surface grip, Nylon Protesis is recommended for fabricating prostheses. ‘Aesthetically similar to glass for transparency,’ this material can tolerate varying temperatures and is also suitable for large objects.
• BioPet GM0 – a very high strength material, this is meant for medical prototypes of devices and for supporting implants. BioPet GM0 is suited for applications that will be in contact with the skin for long periods of time, as well as temporarily with mucous membranes. Made of polyethylene terephthalate, an extremely popular material for many products, this material is highly resistant to water and is meant to be a safe food packaging material—to include water and soft drink bottles. PET material allows for excellence in printing and thermal stability, and is fully recyclable.
• IRA PP TALC – a material that has passed FDA and EU standards, polypropylene is considered to be the safest material for 3D printing items that are close to the body, as well as being food safe. Ira3D states that 3D models made with this material are very flexible, and recommended for the fabrication of prosthetics. Loaded with talc (a 30% percentage), the material allows for robust prints that will not irritate the skin.

Ira3D has also announced that they will be releasing a solution, the Poetry Medical Box, designed for medical professionals with help from those who are experts in the field. We will look forward to reporting further on the innovations that are sure to be produced with the aforementioned and long list of versatile new 3D printing medical filaments. Have you been following Ira3D and all their latest developments and releases? Discuss in the Ira3D Medical 3D Printing Filaments forum over at 3DPB.com.