The digital light synthesis (DLS) technology based on Carbon’s proprietary continuous liquid interface production (CLIP) process uses photoactive resins to rapidly form monolithic 3D shapes for devices and components. Carbon is developing the DLS platform as a manufacturing tool that can be used for product development to advantageously reduce the product development to production cycle time. At the University of North Carolina, our fundamental research with CLIP includes the synthesis of custom polymers, formulation development, and investigating new applications with custom and commercial resins. The properties of polymer products are a function of their materials, designs, and manufacturing processes. We will present an overview of our research including the design and printing of very small structures, 3D printed bioabsorbable structures, and 3D printed carbon fiber composite joining structures. We are exploring the relationships between software, hardware, and material science using systematic changes to the chemistry, design features, and print parameters of very small devices such as microneedles, lattices, and thin films. Developing and applying bioabsorbable material technology to the DLS platform requires a fundamental understanding of the structure property relationships between the formulated starting materials, designs and drug delivery, mechanical properties, degradation pathways and safety of the produced parts. Carbon’s dual cure resin technology uses UV light to develop the product shape and a thermal cure to refine the mechanical properties using a range of chemistries. In collaboration with researchers at the University of Wisconsin, we have explored applying the thermal processing stage as a bonding step within a multistep manufacturing process for carbon fiber composites.

Relationships between chemistry, design, and process using 3D printing with carbon’s digital light synthesis technology

2019 Fall National Meeting

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