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A US firm has demonstrated for the first time a polymer-based 3D printing machine that it said offers game-changing production rates for commercial quality parts and objects.
Carbon3D's continuous liquid interface production (Clip) technology uses a photochemical process instead of the mechanical approach 3D printers traditionally use.
In its machine, UV light triggers photo polymerization, and oxygen inhibits the reaction. The Clip process therefore “continuously grows” objects from a pool of resin at speeds up to 100 times faster than traditional 3D printing, said the company.
The machine works using a special “window” that is transparent to light and permeable to oxygen, similar to a contact lens. By controlling the amount of oxygen through the window, CLIP creates a “dead zone” tens of microns thick in a UV curable resin pool where photopolymerisation cannot occur.
A continuous sequence of UV images, cross-sections of the 3D model, are projected through the window into the reservoir of curable resin. The build platform lifts continuously as the object is grown.
Dr Joseph DeSimone, chief executive and co-founder of Carbon3D, said: “Current 3D printing technology has failed to deliver on its promise to revolutionise manufacturing. Our Clip technology offers the game-changing speed, consistent mechanical properties and choice of materials required for complex commercial quality parts.”
Traditional 3D printers use various mechanical methods, such as deposition, to build-up an object layer-by-layer. Dependent on the object and the technology used, the process can take hours or days.
3D printing was originally developed for rapid prototyping and there can be quality issues when attempting to produce commercial standard components and products using the technology. The layer-by-layer method can lead to internal defects and weaknesses in a material and cause variation in mechanical properties.
According to Carbon3D, the Clip process is more akin to injection moulding and produces objects with “consistent and predictable mechanical properties” and “parts that are smooth on the outside and solid on the inside”.
In addition, Carbon3D said that its process is able to use a variety of materials to make production-quality parts from polymers, for products from training shoes to temperature-resistant automotive parts.
The Silicon Valley startup also announced it had successfully raised the £27 million required to commercialise the technology with its financial partners.
Jim Goetz, Carbon3D board member and partner in Sequoia, one of the company's financial partners, said: “If 3D printing hopes to break out of the prototyping niche it has been trapped in for decades, we need to find a disruptive technology that attacks the problem from a fresh perspective and addresses 3D printing’s fundamental weaknesses,”. “When we met Joe and saw what his team had invented, it was immediately clear to us that 3D printing would never be the same.