3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing that enables relatively cheap and rapid production of three dimensional models with complex geometries that has grown from a niche technique in rapid prototyping to a serious component of advanced manufacturing. During printing, a mathematical description of the part is integrated with important parameters such as laser positioning and print temperature and then fed into the printer which produces individual layers which build up to the final part. Most recently reactive stereolithographic (SLA) 3D printing has become a competitive technology for new manufacturing processes. Developing new composite materials for use with SLA will require a better understanding of material syntheses that incorporate novel components such as carbon fiber and, less commonly, ionic liquids which introduce targeted characteristics to the materials being printed using SLA.<br/>Here we outline a new technique designed to improve our understanding of photo-polymerized materials containing additives designed for SLA 3D printing. By suspending 5 of monomer and photoinitiator between parallel purple lasers in a standing acoustic field, we can observe the change in temperature of a levitated sample in-situ during the photo-polymerization process using an infrared imaging camera. From this measurement, we have experimentally quantified the effects of introducing a chemically compatible ionic liquid on the photo-polymerization process by measuring the heat of polymerization at different additive loadings for poly(methyl methacrylate) and polystyrene. In this fashion, we can make direct correlations between synthetic parameters, such as additive loading and distribution, and the physical properties of an SLA printed part. This technique provides a useful method for probing the effects of additives on in-situ polymerization while developing new 3D printable materials to be used in SLA.

In-situ thermal monitoring of acoustically-trapped photo-polymerizations containing ionic liquid additives

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.