3D inkjet printing method with free space droplet merging for low viscosity and highly reactive materials

Methods for 3D printing of thermoplastic materials are being rapidly adopted. Nevertheless, these methods are not suitable for several industrially important materials, such as silicones and epoxies that chemically react immediately upon mixing of two components. Here, we develop an inkjet printer that generates droplets of the reactive components, merges and mixes them in free space and prints these droplets so that 3D structures can be formed. It uses low viscosity, highly reactive inks that cannot be printed using conventional methods of additive manufacturing and expands the range of materials that can be 3D printed.