A new 3D printing technique that uses light to produce complex shapes from a vat of liquid resin is up to 100 times faster than conventional 3D printing processes, claim its developers at the University of Michigan.
The method – which uses two lights to control where a curable liquid resin hardens and solidifies and where it stays fluid – has so far been used to print a variety of complex three dimensional demonstration shapes including a lattice, a toy boat and a block letter M.
The group claims that the technique overcomes the limitations of earlier so-called vat-printing efforts, which encountered problems with the resin solidifying on the window that the light shines through, stopping the print job just as it gets started.