Researchers use light to 3D-print resin parts 100 times faster

University of Michigan researchers have joined the effort to find a faster way to 3D-print plastic parts than by stacking one superthin layer of resin upon another.

They have devised a new approach that lifts complex shapes from a vat of liquid at rates up to 100 times faster than conventional 3D printing processes, according to an article posted on the website of the university’s engineering department.

The group’s method solidifies liquid resin with two lights that control where the resin hardens and where it remains fluid. This reportedly allows printing of more sophisticated patterns. The method can be used to make a 3D bas-relief in a single shot, for example, rather than in a series of 1D lines or 2D cross-sections.

The U-M team says its method overcomes the limitations of earlier vat-printing techniques, where the “resin tends to solidify on the window that the light shines through, stopping the print job just as it gets started. By creating a relatively large region where no solidification occurs, thicker resins—potentially [containing] strengthening powder additives—can be used to produce more durable objects. The method also bests the structural integrity of filament 3D printing, as those objects have weak points at the interfaces between layers.”

U-M has filed three patent applications to protect the research team’s method.

A paper on the research, titled “Rapid, continuous additive manufacturing by volumetric polymerization inhibition patterning,” was published in January by Science Advances.

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