freeformer prints prosthetics for cancer patients
Additively manufactured with the ARBURG freeformer, the breast orthosis can be tailor-made to the patient, including shape, density, size, colour, and made in certified medical product grades that are light weight, breathable and 100% recyclable. Typically silicone breast orthotics, by contrast, are not recycled at their end-of-life. The material used, medical grade Cawiton SEBS, is soft but strong enough for the thickness to be reduced so that the prosthesis does not feel too heavy.
Mastectomy procedures can be traumatic, and the next step should be smooth and sympathetic; but patients can often find off-the-shelf silicone breast prostheses limited in design, and too heavy. Conversely, Hashtagtwo customers report that the printed prostheses are “naturally light and weightless as a shoulder pad in a blazer.” ARBURG has worked with Hastagtwo since founder Chris Reutelingsperger bought a freeformer 200-3X eight years ago to try printing customised breast prostheses, refining the technology, the materials and designs.
“We are delighted to win the 2024 TCT Health Application award, sponsored by HP,” said Sander Reutelingsperger, CTO at Hashtagtwo. “It was our first entry in these awards, and we were up against several strong companies, so we were very pleasantly surprised to win.
He added, “This breast orthosis, manufactured with the Arburg freeformer, can be tailor-made to the patient. It helps women restore their self-esteem again as it is wearable directly on the skin in regular lingerie. We strongly believe it will change the market for external breast prostheses that has seen little change since 1970.”
The ARBURG freeformer 200-3X was chosen for its versatility. The freeformer has a unique additive manufacturing process that enables production-line printing of soft materials. Freeformer is matched well with this product for making customised, lightweight and detailed parts in low-to-medium volume.
“It can be individually adapted to use different qualified standard granulates which we use in a flexible way combining materials and colour, “ The freeformer’s unique ability to build pressure up to 800 bar can create hard/soft combinations, in our case up to Shore A 20 (hardness scale). It enables us to produce highly personalized prostheses in a variety of colours and characteristics cost-effectively. It gives us the freedom to design individually and the ability to let customers experience new solutions.”
The award entry was supervised by Didier von Zeppelin, managing director of ARBURGadditive GmbH. Didier has helped Hastagtwo optimise the freeformer with the material Cawiton SEBS for this application. The awards were held at the TCT3Sixty show at the NEC, Birmingham on 5th June, where freeformer-made products were on show.
“ARBURG were delighted to exhibit at the TCT3Sixty show in June, and across the two days we had some very positive and interesting discussions,” says managing director of ARBURG Ltd., Colin Tirel. “Visitors could see a wide cross section of components produced using the ARBURG freeformer technology. This ranged from solid, dense structures to incredibly flexible components – all manufactured using standard grade plastic granulate materials.
“In addition, winning the TCT Healthcare Application award at the awards against stiff competition was an amazing highlight for our customer Hashtagtwo and ARBURG alike!” Colin added.