Polyjet:
Tango (soft / rubber-like)
Tango is a soft / rubber-like rapid prototyping material. It is printed in very thin layers (32 µm) and can be combined with the rigid Vero to dual-material prototypes. Using Tango together with a rigid material allows the simulation of overmolding. Furthermore, it is the best choice when it comes to produce soft, high-accuracy prototyping parts.
Overview
Technology
Polyjet
Colors
Black
Transparent
Max. size
342 x 342 x 200 mm
Cost
$$$
(High)
Lead Time
2 – 5 business days
Accuracy
± 0,15% with a lower limit of 0,2 mm
Material-Details
Click on the topics of your interest.
Soft parts
While there are plenty of rigid materials for additive manufacturing, there is only a handful of options for soft materials. Polyjet 3D printed Tango is one of the most established and reliable ways to create highly accurate, soft or rubber-like parts. One exciting feature of Tango is the possibility to change the shore hardness (range ~A25 – 95) exactly to your needs.
Simulated Overmolding
Overmolding is a molding process (typically injection molding) to create multi-material parts. Oftentimes, an elastomer, soft or rubber-like material, is used in combination with a rigid material to e.g. create a non-slip surface. The Polyjet technology allows 3D printing of overmolding parts. For overmolding parts, please ask for a manual quote and let us know what your specific requirements are (e.g. shore hardness, color, etc.).
Approximate price
- Pricing for Polyjet is complex. For your prototypes printed with Tango, please request a manual quote.
Pricing factors
- Material changes: When changing a material on the machine, a significant amount of material is discarded by cleaning the print heads and pipes.
- Material consumption: Polyjet is the 3D printing technology with the largest material cost among all plastics. Furthermore, for technological reasons, more material is used than the part requires, sometimes the material consumption is up to 8 times higher than the final part requires (e.g. 800 g material for a 100 g part).
Look & Feel
- The material feels like rubber when printed in a low shore hardness or like a soft plastic when printed in a higher shore hardness
- The surfaces are smooth compared to most other 3D printing technologies. However, layer lines can be seen in z-axis, as well as in x-y axis. Only this technology has x-y lines, which are a result from the print head scraping some material from the surface while printing.
- Tango parts are printed completely covered with a thin layer of support, therefore the surface is dull and a little rougher than rigid Polyjet materials, but still superior to most other additive manufacturing technologies.
Characteristics
- Tango is a prototyping material. While it simulates rubber or soft plastics quite well, it is not as durable as industrial plastics and should therefore not be used for end-use parts.
Tensile
Strength
0.8-1.5 MPa
Elongation
at break
170-220 %
Modulus
of Elasticity
N/A
Flexural
Strength
N/A
Vicat A
N/A
Shore
hardness
26-28A (basic material, can be increased up to A95)
Wall thickness
The minimum wall thickness should be no less than 1 mm. For long structures or structures that face mechanical stress, the wall thickness should be increased accordingly.
Cavities
Cavities are not recommended with Tango, since the part could collapse due to the softness of the material. If cavities are required, make sure to leave sufficient space to remove excess support material (min. 10 mm diameter) and ensure the wall thickness around the cavity is at least 2 mm, since the support material needs to be scrapped off.
Clearance Gap
In case your file contains several shells, make sure to keep a clearance gap of min. 0,5 mm between the shells, otherwise they could be fused together.
Resolution
The minimal details size should not be smaller than 0,5 mm.
Interlocking parts
Interlocking parts can be printed as long as there is a clearance gap of at least 0.5 mm and there is sufficient space to remove the support material.
Bounding Box
The maximum size of the part cannot exceed 342 x 342 x 200 mm.
Standard Finishing
- Remove support material
Optional Finishing
- Due to the softness of the material, finishing options like sanding or coating are not recommended
In Polyjet 3D printing a print head is suspended above a build platform. The print head contains several nozzles as well as a UV lamp. During printing, the print head will sweep over the platform, ejecting tiny drops of a light-curing polymer on to the printing platform, and then almost immediately curing it with UV light. The platform then lowers between 16-32 microns (depending on the machine and setting) and the next layer of polymer is applied to the already hardened previous layer. This process continues until the object is completely 3D-printed. Overhanging sections are stabilized during the print by support material, which need to be removed after the print is completed.
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Learn more
Multijet Modeling (aka Polyjet) Printing Process. Quelle: Youtube.com / 3D-Systems