Abstract
Stereolithography is an additive manufacturing technology commonly used to build either prototypes or final parts. Nevertheless, the manufacture of structural parts has been ruled out owing to the poor mechanical properties of conventional UV-curable resins. Moreover, the inventory of available commercial resins is still limited and they exhibit low thermal and electrical conductivity values. In this work, some composite materials were designed using Al microparticles dispersed within an SLA commercial resin matrix. These composites overcame the difficulties caused by the light scattering effect during the photopolymerisation process in the SLA technology. Dispersion of the filler was characterised by means of SEM/EDX and AFM. The composites exhibited improved thermal and mechanical behaviour in comparison with the pristine resin. The simplicity of the synthesis method used to prepare the composites provides a convenient starting point to explore new ways of designing composites for SLA with improved mechanical and functional properties.
Highlights
The methodology used in the manufacturing industry to build any object involved the use of expensive moulds or tooling to fabricate each part
The present study reports on the design of composite materials based on the dispersion of
The AR-Al composites were prepared upon a commercial acrylic resin, namely FLGPCL02 supplied by the company Formlabs and microparticulate Al powder
Summary
The methodology used in the manufacturing industry to build any object involved the use of expensive moulds or tooling to fabricate each part (e.g., injection moulding or machining technologies). 3D printing or additive manufacturing (AM) techniques have emerged as processing methods with technological applications in the framework of industry 4.0 [1,2,3,4,5,6]. AM techniques are based on a manufacturing concept that is depositing sequentially layers of material until the part is complete [7]. It is perceptible that AM techniques mark a turning point for the manufacturing industry. The advantages of AM techniques are countless, among which, the following are highlighted [1,5,15,16]: Costs’ reduction when compared with traditional manufacturing techniques because less raw material is required
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