Modular soft stretchable low-cost elastomers for stereolithography printing structures with extreme dissipative properties

Additive manufacturing of elastomers enables the fabrication of many technologically important structures and devices. However, it remains a challenge to develop soft and stretchable elastomers for stereolithography (SLA) printing, one of the most used additive manufacturing techniques for producing objects with relatively high-resolution and smooth finishes. Here, we report a modular, soft, stretchable, and low-cost elastomer resin for SLA printing. The resin consists of mainly commodity acrylates and can be photocured to form a dual-crosslinked network containing covalent and reversible crosslinks. Controlling the ratio of covalent and reversible crosslinks, we create elastomers with an exceptional combination of softness and stretchability (Young’s modulus of 20-150 kPa and tensile breaking strain of 510-1350%) that cannot be achieved by existing SLA resins. We demonstrate printing this resin to produce high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) structures with extreme dissipative properties. Further, we develop a setup to show that the 3D structures can protect brain-like soft gels from impact damage in reducing the severity of impact by 75%. Together with the low-cost of raw chemicals and modular nature of the design, our soft and stretchable elastomer resins provide a new class of soft materials for high-fidelity additive manufacturing of functional architectures.