ViscoTec hosts fluid 3D printing event at Töging am Inn innovation center

Fluid systems specialist ViscoTec recently brought together users, developers, and academic representatives at its Customer and Innovation Center (CIC) in Töging am Inn, for a full-day event focused on additive manufacturing with liquid and paste-like materials.

The Additive Manufacturing Experience Day covered the company’s full process chain — from material feed and dispensing technology through to finished components — with progressive cavity pump technology as a central theme. VicoTec’s solutions aim to offer precise and reproducible material application for demanding substances that include silicones, polyurethanes, conductive and abrasive pastes, ceramic materials, and biological substances.

Medical and bioprinting applications

Presentations and live demonstrations addressed both industrial and scientific use cases, and medical technology and bioprinting were key themes of the day. Exhibits included 3D printed silicone organ models for surgical planning and training, alongside service applications using RTV silicones and liquid silicone rubber (LSR) for prototyping, spare parts, small production runs, and custom medical solutions.

ViscoTec’s Medical Grade product series, which uses FDA-compliant polymers, and its Puredyne Kit b, a dispensing system developed for bioprinting applications where gentle handling of living cells is required, were both highlighted.

“The Experience Day demonstrates just how versatile additive manufacturing has already become today – from industrial applications to 3D bioprinting,” said Jannik Stadler, Head of Bioprinting Consumables and Services at BlackDrop, and who was in attendance.

“It is especially inspiring to see how rapidly interest is growing in medical applications and in the printing of living cells. This is precisely where technologies are emerging that have the potential to transform medicine over the long term. As a specialist and manufacturer of 3D bioprinting systems, we are actively helping shape this field of the future and are pleased to present our innovative solutions to a broad audience as part of the event.”

Industry and academic participation

Benedikt Daschner, Quality Manager and Developer in Additive Manufacturing at CR-3D, described how his organization uses the technology: “For us, 3D printing with fluids and pastes plays a major role primarily in prototype production – for example, when one or two components need to be tested quickly and under realistic conditions. At the same time, we are seeing growing interest in series production. The key challenge in the coming years will be scaling the technology economically in terms of time, quality, and reproducibility. The wide variety of materials and applications is both a challenge and an opportunity.”

Chad Copperthite of Rosenheim Technical University of Applied Sciences – a cooperation partner – described the event as valuable for cross-sector exchange.

“The ViscoTec Experience Day was an exceptionally valuable event from my perspective,” he explained. “Experiences like this represent exactly what we strive to achieve at the university, as they foster a high level of engagement and meaningful exchange between companies. 

“This is important in emerging fields such as fluid-based 3D printing, where collaboration and knowledge sharing play a key role in advancing the technology.”