Rapid Stereolithography Research Articles

The preparation of SiC ceramic photosensitive slurry for rapid stereolithography

Stereolithography is one of the most widely used additive manufacturing techniques for preparing high precision and complex ceramic components. Due to the high optical absorbance and refractive index of SiC powder, the rapid stereolithography of SiC ceramics components has become a key challenge. Here, we innovatively use graded silica to improve the curing thickness, rheological and settling performance of the slurry. And we presented a preparation method of SiC ceramic slurry for stereolithography with high solid content, low viscosity, low sedimentation rate and high curing thickness. The printable precision of the slurry is more than 75 μm, the dynamic viscosity is less than 2 Pa·s, and the 24 h sedimentation height is less than 5%. This strategy demonstrates a tantalizing possibility and promising prospect to rapid stereolithography of large size SiC ceramic green body.

Accelerated refilling speed in rapid stereolithography based on nano-textured functional release film

Nowadays, along with the demand for new technologies and new materials, a revolution in 3D printing technology is emerging. In recent years, stereolithography 3D printing has been widely used in both academia and industry, due to its fast forming speed, high precision, and low-cost advantages. The continuous liquid interface production technology has made the printing speed even faster. However, the process of resin refilling constrains the printing speed and the printing capabilities of such technologies, since only hollow structures can be fabricated. In this study, a nano-textured hydrophobic PDMS contacting layer and an oxygen-permeable membrane were bonded together as the functional release film. The oxygen inhibition layer was successfully maintained by the molecular oxygen permeated through the composite release film, achieving rapid stereolithography, and key factors that affecting resin refilling are selectively studied by the orthogonal experiment. Crucially, according to the simulation and experimental results, the adoption of the hydrophobic nano-texture not only increased the refilling speed of the resin by two times and reduced the printing time by nearly 25%, but also improved the printing reliability by reducing the vacuum (negative pressure) caused by the original slow refilling speed. Additionally, optical simulations also demonstrated that the nano-texture would not influence the curing effect of the resin. This work proposed a promising strategy for rapid stereolithography of 3D models containing larger cross-sectional areas.

Feasible Study for Multi-photon Stereolithography Method of Electro Conductive Polymer Actuator with Complex Shape

recently, a soft actuator was developed using an electro-conducting polymer and an ionic conducting polymer. Moreover, stereolithography that uses a femtosecond laser was researched as a method of multiphoton-sensitized polymerization. In this study, we tried a more stable and more rapid stereolithography method for fabricating an electro-conducting polymer using a protein material. From the results of this study, we found that the method was 10 times faster when an aqueous solid that included an electro-conducting polymer, a catalyst, and gelatine was used. In addition, it was stable in that the temperature of the aqueous solid was controlled at 10 degree. We built a 3D shape using the newly developed method.

Ninety-six-well planar lipid bilayer chip for ion channel recording Fabricated by hybrid stereolithography

We present a micro fluidic chip for parallel ion channel recording in a large array of artificial planar lipid bilayer membranes. To realize a composite structure that features an array of recording wells with free-standing microapertures for lipid bilayer reconstitution, the device was fabricated by the hybrid stereolithography technology, in which a Parylene film with pre-formed microapertures was inserted during the rapid stereolithography process. We designed and tested a hybrid chip that has 96 (12x8) addressable recording wells to demonstrate recording of ion channel current in high-throughput manner. Measurement was done by sequentially moving the recording electrode, and, as a result, the channel current of model membrane protein was detected in 44 wells out of 96. We also showed that this hybrid fabrication process was capable of integrating micropatterned electrodes suitable for automated recording. These results support the efficiency of our present architecture of the parallel ion channel recording chip toward realization of the high-throughput screening of ion channel proteins in the artificial lipid bilayer system.