Overview
In recent years, thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) based multi-material molded products have found widespread use in various industries and in daily life. The soft touch surface provides a non-slip grip and ergonomic comfort. Many industries use soft touch coating during their product design to validate future products. For example, the automotive industry uses soft touch in the design and development of interior products such as knobs, pulls and handles. Consumer electronics use soft touch coating for features such as rubberized buttons and coatings, typically to improve the product's ergonomic comfort. In the world of consumer goods, a vast array of products incorporate soft touch coating, including tooth brushes, shaving handles and glasses.

Why Connex?
Connex printing systems can produce prototypes with possess properties that mimic traditional elastomeric materials including EPDM and NBR. This means you can evaluate a design that incorporates soft touch areas. In the example illustrated above, several rubber-like materials with different shore values were printed at the same time and evaluated on the design model. The model was then tested on a focus group as well as on potential customers to gain input regarding the product's comfort and ease of use. Issues such as a product's impact resistance can also be evaluated.

Tips and Tricks

Save the design in separate STL files for each part of your assembly (Figure 3). This is recommended for the soft touch areas along with other rigid parts. Later the parts can be printed in different color tones to visually separate each area of the model. Label each part that you evaluate with its relevant shore value. Labeling will help you later quickly determine which shore value represents the best score in your evaluation criteria tests. Also, create a mechanism that enables you to mount the soft touch part on your full assembly of rigid and soft parts. You can then use the Connex system's ability to print up to nine different materials in one build process and assemble each part on the model for evaluation.

Reference

• “CAD to STL” – Can be found on the Objet website
• Case Study: Tescoma – Can be found on the Objet website under Case Studies
• Consumer Goods
• Objet Studio Software – Can be found on the Objet website

Disclaimer
Objet Geometries Ltd. is not responsible for misuse of our products or their use in conjunction with unsafe or improperly maintained equipment or for uses other than intended as specified in this application note.