Rapid digital light 3D printing enabled by a soft and deformable hydrogel separation interface

Jingjun Wu, Jing Guo, Changhong Linghu, Yahui Lu, Jizhou Song (), Tao Xie and Qian Zhao ()
Additional contact information
Jingjun Wu: Ningbo Research Institute Zhejiang University
Jing Guo: Zhejiang University
Changhong Linghu: Zhejiang University
Yahui Lu: Zhejiang University
Jizhou Song: Zhejiang University
Tao Xie: Ningbo Research Institute Zhejiang University
Qian Zhao: Ningbo Research Institute Zhejiang University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The low productivity of typical 3D printing is a major hurdle for its utilization in large-scale manufacturing. Innovative techniques have been developed to break the limitation of printing speed, however, sophisticated facilities or costly consumables are required, which still substantially restricts the economic efficiency. Here we report that a common stereolithographic 3D printing facility can achieve a very high printing speed (400 mm/h) using a green and inexpensive hydrogel as a separation interface against the cured part. In sharp contrast to other techniques, the unique separation mechanism relies on the large recoverable deformation along the thickness direction of the hydrogel interface during the layer-wise printing. The hydrogel needs to be extraordinarily soft and unusually thick to remarkably reduce the adhesion force which is a key factor for achieving rapid 3D printing. This technique shows excellent printing stability even for fabricating large continuous solid structures, which is extremely challenging for other rapid 3D printing techniques. The printing process is highly robust for fabricating diversified materials with various functions. With the advantages mentioned above, the presented technique is believed to make a large impact on large-scale manufacturing.

Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26386-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-26386-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26386-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().