As Breathe99 began contacting investors in early 2020, the team knew they needed better, more accurate prototypes to help communicate their design goals. Because the B2 mask requires a flexible seal around the face, creating a functional multimaterial prototype was difficult.
Initially, they tried casting in silicone, but adjusting the process to achieve a truly high-quality prototype would have taken too much time.
“Because the casting process is different from the eventual molding process, that work would not have furthered production itself,” Bock-Aronson explained. “I had tried a number of different materials and technologies, and nothing was really working,” he said. “It’s a fairly hard thing to prototype.”
The team also experimented with several 3D printing technologies, including SLA and CLIP (Continuous Liquid Interface Production). None of them offered both the right material properties and the ability to create cavities and complex geometries. Moreover, the models often weren’t durable enough for user testing, an important step for ergonomic products.
That’s when Bock-Aronson reached out to AdvancedTek, a reseller for Stratasys 3D printers based in Minnesota. He had a previous working relationship with the company, but he was also interested in their ability to 3D print Agilus30™ PolyJet material, a flexible photopolymer. This, combined with multimaterial printing on the J850™, would allow for realistic, fast prototypes.
“I had difficulty finding a 3D printing technology that created more robust, more durable prototypes, and that’s what drove me to AdvancedTek and using the Agilus material,” Bock-Aronson explained.
“Initially, I think it wasn’t about mechanical properties, but marketing the concept to investors,” said David Kadlec, an application engineer at AdvancedTek. With PolyJet 3D printing, the team was able to produce a flexible respirator prototype in just a day.