A Bio-Based Resin for a Multi-Scale Optical 3D Printing

Edvinas Skliutas,Sima Rekštytė,Sigita Kasetaite,Saulius Lileikis,Jolita Ostrauskaite,Migle Lebedevaite,Mangirdas Malinauskas

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-66618-1

Edvinas Skliutas, Sima Rekštytė + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66618-1

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Abstract

Materials obtained from renewable sources are emerging to replace the starting materials of petroleum-derived plastics. They offer easy processing, fulfill technological, functional and durability requirements at the same time ensuring increased bio-compatibility, recycling, and eventually lower cost. On the other hand, optical 3D printing (O3DP) is a rapid prototyping tool (and an additive manufacturing technique) being developed as a choice for efficient and low waste production method, yet currently associated with mainly petroleum-derived resins. Here we employ a single bio-based resin derived from soy beans, suitable for O3DP in the scales from nano- to macro-dimensions, which can be processed even without the addition of photoinitiator. The approach is validated using both state-of-the art laser nanolithography setup as well as a widespread table-top 3D printer - sub-micrometer accuracy 3D objects are fabricated reproducibly. Additionally, chess-like figures are made in an industrial line commercially delivering small batch production services. Such concept is believed to make a breakthrough in rapid prototyping by switching the focus of O3DP to bio-based resins instead of being restricted to conventional petroleum-derived photopolymers.

Highlights

Bio-based polymers are emerging as replacement for petroleum-derived polymers
digital light processing (DLP) and nonlinear laser lithography (NLL) are two additive manufacturing techniques allowing the production of the diverse objects out of photosensitive resins through polymerization reaction, induced via linear (DLP) or nonlinear (NLL) light-matter interaction
It was demonstrated that the investigated bio-based Acrylated epoxidized soy bean oil (AESO) was advantageous as compared to the existing known resins for the optical 3D printing (O3DP), in a sense that it can be processed with either DLP lithography, or NLL, maintaining over 60% of bio-renewable carbon

Summary

Introduction

Bio-based polymers are emerging as replacement for petroleum-derived polymers. The growth of the production and market is 2.05 Mtons of bio-plastics[1] and 700 bilion Euros in Europe only[2]. As there exist diverse technical implementations of this technology, it is known in many names: lithography (stereolithography, digital light processing (DLP)/projection lithography), direct laser writing (DLW) or alternatively laser direct writing (LDW), two-photon polymerization (2PP), nonlinear lithography (NLL), multi-photon lithography (MPL), etc This additive manufacturing process can be called by one common name: optical 3D printing (O3DP) as it is based on photons. Chess-like figures (“Marvin” and “Tower”) are made in an industrial line (standard Formlabs Form 2 optical 3D printer using default settings) proving its suitability for commercially delivering small batch production services on demand[34] Such proposed concept is experimentally validated and characterized and is believed to make an immediate breakthrough in rapid prototyping by switching the focus of O3DP to bio-based resins instead of conventional petroleum-derived photopolymers

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