The development of a UV-curable material for an existing rapid prototyping system.

摘要

During the process of developing a new line of materials with varied properties for a rapid prototyping company, a systematic method was used to make a UV-curable photopolymer that could be used to build prototype parts with a modified version of an existing three-dimensional inkjet droplet deposition machine. The machine was modified by incorporating an pulsed Xenon;Two parameters were studied: the level of crosslinking attained in the cured formulation, and the softening effects of two plasticizers, an alcohol solvent and a combination of the alcohol and the thermosplastic build material, on the cured formulation. The level of cure was studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) scans and a solvent gel test. The effects of the plasticizers were studied using Shore D hardness tests.;The DSC scans performed on fully-cured samples of the material did not show any glass transition temperature, indicating that the material was totally crosslinked. This was confirmed when partially-cured samples, scanned over the same temperature range, exhibited distinct glass transition temperatures. Over time, the solvent-build plasticizer produced better softening effects on the cured samples than the solvent by itself. The solvent gel test produced inconclusive results. Finite element analysis (FEA) was done to determine the optimum specimen dimensions for evaluating material flexural properties.