print a 3D object with an ultra-fast 3D printer
To print a 3D object, it can take several hours and the resulting mechanical strength is not always up to expectations. A team of US researchers has developed a new process that prints 3D objects less fragile and more quickly. They even created their start-up, Carbon3D.
The announcement was published a few days ago in Science magazine. A team from North Carolina State University researchers (USA), directed by Joseph DeSimone, was able to accelerate and smooth the 3D printing process through what could be called a simple trick chemist. Clip for Continuous Production Liquid Interface: this is the name they gave to this innovative technology to accelerate the production of 25 to 100 times.
Recall that the additive manufacturing technology, known today as the 3D printing has emerged in the mid 1980s it possible to manufacture an object through a deposition of material, layer by layer. According Wholers Report 2014, the market for 3D printing has tripled in just three years, from 2013 to more than $ 3.07 billion in the world. For numerous applications in the armaments industry, aerospace, medicine or research, to name a few.
The end of the print layer by layer?
Traditionally, 3D printers therefore build a layer by layer object by applying an ultra-violet radiation and a liquid photosensitive resin, for example. It then hardens under the effect of radiation. Once a first solidified layer, the object is pulled up to allow the creation of a second layer and a third, a fourth, etc. Depending on the size and complexity of the object, this process, known as stereolithography, can last hours. Indeed, the radiation must be interrupted between each layer, the time to add a little more liquid resin. The resulting object can present some mechanical failures, precisely because of its layered composition.
The North Carolina college team proposes to proceed continuously, rather than layer by layer. To do this, chemists have chosen an oxygen-permeable material to form the bottom of the container which contains the resin bath, oxygen preventing the resin from solidifying under the effect of ultraviolet radiation. They were able to create a kind of "dead zone" of a few tens of microns thick only. A zone in which the resin is still liquid. What help form objects continuously without having to wait for feedback fresh liquid resin to advance.
More solid objects and a greater choice of materials
This new process finally has several advantages. The first has already been cited. It allows to make things faster. Typically, where printing stereolithography takes more than 11 hours, one conducted by video would take just over six minutes ...! By overcoming the manufacturing layer by layer, CLIP also can produce less fragile objects. US chemists ensure, the method also makes possible the use of materials that do not suit until then to 3D printing, such as flexible or rubbery materials. The use of elastomers could well afford to print sneakers or auto parts.
Convinced of the richness of their idea, North Carolina State University researchers have launched a start-up called Carbon3D. Its objective is to develop a 3D printer that can be marketed in the year. "We are eager to find out how engineers around the world manage to implement it at the heart of their projects," says Joseph DeSimone.
No Comment to " print a 3D object with an ultra-fast 3D printer "