Abstract
Stereolithography 3D printing is today recognized as an effective rapid prototyping technique in the field of polymeric materials, which represents both the strengths and the weaknesses of this technique. The strengths relate to their easy handling and the low energy required for processing, which allow for the production of structures down to the sub-micrometric scale. The weaknesses are a result of the relatively poor mechanical properties. Unfortunately, the choice of the right material is not sufficient, as the printing parameters also play a crucial role. For this reason, it is important to deepen and clarify the effect of different printing conditions on final product characteristics. In this paper, the behavior of commercial Standard Blend (ST Blend) acrylic resin printed with stereolithography (SL) apparatus is reported, investigating the influence of printing parameters on both the tensile properties of the printed parts and the build accuracy. Twenty-four samples were printed under different printing conditions, then dimensional analyses and tensile tests were performed. It was possible to find out the optimum printing setup to obtain the best result in terms of mechanical resistance and printing accuracy for this kind of resin. Finally, a micrometric spring was printed under the optimal conditions to demonstrate the possibility of printing accurate and tiny parts with the commercial and inexpensive STBlend resin.
Highlights
The term “additive manufacturing” refers to a layer-by-layer building method for prototypes 3D printing
The inaccuracies intrinsically connected with SL processing are mainly due to various sources
It was observed that dimensional accuracy is higher on the x-y plane than along z-direction
Summary
The term “additive manufacturing” refers to a layer-by-layer building method for prototypes 3D printing. Stereolithography (SL), selective laser sintering (SLS), and fused deposition modelling (FDM). Are some examples of additive manufacturing technologies. SL is surely the oldest one if we consider the pioneering work of Charles W. Hull in 1986, in which he outlined a system for building objects from a liquid medium [1]. Many researchers have studied methods to improve this approach and to exploit this technology with broad-spectrum applications. SL is involved in several application fields, such as bioengineering
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