Vat photopolymerization (VP) additive manufacturing (AM) produces complex geometries with excellent resolution suitable for a wide range of photo-crosslinkable materials. However, viscosity limitations constrain VP amenable materials to those with viscosities below 10 Pa.s. Thus, presents a challenging paradox to take advantage of the properties high molecular weight polymers provide while maintaining viscosities serviceable to VP systems. This work describes methods for the construction of polymeric networks, photochemically curing water-soluble reactive diluents to form green-body scaffolds for structural integrity. Latexes effectively dissociate the dependency of viscosity on molecular weight. Photo-crosslinking of reactive diluents enables the fabrication of a scaffold, restricted to the latex’s continuous phase, surrounding the latex particles enabling the AM of otherwise inaccessible high molecular weight materials. The resulting particle-embedded greenbody ensures sufficient moduli are maintained throughout the printing process. Thermal post-processing promotes particle coalescence of the dispersed polymer particles throughout the network while maintaining the resolution VP enables. To date, styrene-butadiene rubber has been demonstrated as a promising example exhibiting precise geometries and extensibility exceeding 500%. Further testing of commercially relevant latexes including styrene-isoprene rubber (SIR), styrene-isoprene-styrene (SIS), and waterborne polyurethanes (WPU) to determine the versatility of the printing platform.

Lithographic 3D printing block and segmented copolymers

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