Hopping Light Vat Photopolymerization for Multiscale Fabrication

Yang Xu, Huachao Mao, Cenyi Liu, Zhengyu Du, Weijia Yan, Zhuoyuan Yang, Jouni Partanen, Yong Chen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)
40 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

3D objects with features spanning from microscale to macroscale have various applications. However, the fabrication of such objects presents challenges to additive manufacturing (AM) due to the tradeoffs among manufacturable feature resolution, maximum build area, and printing speed. This paper presents a projection-based AM process called hopping light vat photopolymerization (HL-VPP) to address this critical barrier. The key idea of HL-VPP is to synchronize linear scanning projection with a galvo mirror's rotation. The projector moves continuously at a constant speed while periodically rotating a one-axis galvo mirror to compensate for the projector's linear movement so synchronized hopping motion can be achieved. By this means, HL-VPP can simultaneously achieve large-area (over 200 mm), fast-speed (scanning speed of 13.5 mm s-1), and high-resolution (10 µm pixel size) fabrication. The distinguishing characteristic of HL-VPP is that it allows for hundreds of times lower refresh rates without motion blur. Thus, HL-VPP decouples the fabrication efficiency limit imposed by the refresh rate and will enable super-fast curing in the future. This work will significantly advance VPP's use in applications that require macroscale part size with microscale features. The process has been verified by fabricating multiple multiscale objects, including microgrids and biomimetic structures.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2205784
Number of pages13
JournalSmall
Volume19
Issue number11
Early online date21 Dec 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Mar 2023
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • additive manufacturing
  • computer vision
  • hopping light
  • multiscale
  • vat photopolymerization

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