Polymer Engineering Report: New Developments in 3D Printing

This report analyzes the research article "New Developments in 3D Printing of Composites: Photo curable Resins for UV-Assisted Processes," focusing on the application of polymers in additive manufacturing. The report explores various 3D printing technologies, including stereolithography, DLP, material jetting, SLS, and IPP, and discusses the different types of polymers used in each process. It highlights the use of polymers like polylactic acid, ABS, PVA, and Nylon, and investigates the development of polymeric inks and photo-initiated polymerization. The report assesses the evaluation of different polymers and their suitability for dual curing, along with the measurement of parameters required to print the material. The findings indicate that fumed silica or silicone polymers are chosen as the prime material for the discussed technology, and further research is recommended to determine the efficiency of silicone gel in the printing process. The report also references several research papers on fiber-polymer composites, molecular interference, self-assembly process and dynamic mechanical properties of natural fiber reinforced polymer composites.

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Author Note

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In the research article named “New Developments in 3D Printing of Composites:
Photo curable Resins for UV-Assisted Processes”, the author has proposed the development
of a composite that will be based on a polymer so that it can be used in the liquid deposition
modeling of additive technology (ZOCCHI, 2016). In the paper, the cationic systems which
are UV curable are created with the help of photo polymerization process. 3D printing
technology has proved to be an industrial revolution in the manufacturing scenario. The
polymer materials that are engineered for the application of the 3D printing technologies are
continuously experimented upon. In the first section, the working principles, fabrication
methods and available polymer materials are discussed and evaluated to determine how the
polymer materials are used in several printing processes (such as stereolithography) where
the model is created from a pool of polymeric materials. In the process of DLP or Digital
light processing, the materials are printed from photopolymers. The advantage of this process
over the former is that the polymeric material required for the development of the material is
less in DLP that results in lower costs and wastage (Brown et al, 2015). In the process of
material jetting, the structures are created from liquid photo polymeric material which are
deposited in tiny droplets on a build tray. In SLS or Selective Laser Sintering and IPP or
Inkjet Powder Printing, powdered polymeric materials are used which results in less usage of
energy and less durable products. The author has discussed the different usages of polymeric
materials through the periodic table of Stratasys (ZOCCHI, 2016). Several types of polymers
that are used in FDM technologies are used. The polylactic acid is a form of polymer that is
created from biodegradable and corn starch. Due to the low melting point of the polymer, the
thermoplastic polymer is used in developing legos. Several materials such as silver,
aluminium and ceramics are used to reinforce the mechanical properties of acrylonitrile-
butadiene-styrene or ABS polymer. To create two different types of materials such as support
and fabrication, the polyvinyl alcohol or PVA polymers are used. For structures which are

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subjected to high working temperatures, Nylon or Polyamide polymer is used. Most of the
experimental works that are done nowadays are conducted for the development of polymeric
inks (Güven et al., 2016). The inks are developed and evolved continuously on photopolymer
resins. These low viscous materials offer good protection from other chemical agents after
they are polymerised. The research showed that most of the polymeric inks are mixed with
carbon and glass to reinforce them and the most favourable reinforcement is glass fibre.
A process known as photo initiated polymerization is used to create photopolymer
compounds which uses light, radicals and initiating species to start the process. These
polymers are used not only in stereolithography and optoelectronics but also in
bioengineering, microelectronics and fabrication. To start the crosslinking process, the
reactive species are formed along with some energy during the absorption phase (Ogi et al.,
2015). Photo curable systems such as photo initiators and monomers are used for the
formulation process of the polymer. To create the radicals and cations, two specific
mechanisms are used for photo polymerization. Free radical polymerization is used in three
steps consisting of initiation, propagation and termination. Another process is cationic
polymerization which includes the onium salt to photo decompose (Karger-Kocsis et al.,
2015). By optimizing and developing the photo curable mixtures, a polymeric matrix was
formed from polymeric composite materials. The different effects on the product durability is
measured by adding silica and plasticizers. The use of polymers in 3D printing processes
which are UV assisted is evaluated and assessed. The parameters that are required to print the
material from the polymer such as shell and fill density are evaluated so that the printing
(ZOCCHI, 2016). Different polymers were evaluated and assessed as per a wide number of
tests to check if they are appropriate for dual caring. Calorimetric analysis helped to analyse
the heat from the polymerization during the photo curing processes and the photo reactivity
of the polymeric solution was measured by the drop on glass test. The ability of the dual

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curing process was evaluated to complete the monomer conversion and measure the gel
percentage. Normally, to get 3D micro and macro structures, the deposition parameters as
well as the viscoelastic behaviours are measured in the micro extrusion process (Saba et al.,
2016).
To make the polymer as per the required shape, the self-supporting capability of the
polymer and its rheological profile needs to be evaluated. The findings as recorded by the
author showed that in case of dual curable and UV curable formulations, fumed silica or
silicone polymers were chosen as the prime material for the discussed technology (ZOCCHI,
2016). Further research needs to be conducted to determine the efficiency of the silicone gel
in the printing process so that it generates favourable outcomes.

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References
Brown, Ashley C., et al. "Molecular interference of fibrin's divalent polymerization
mechanism enables modulation of multiscale material properties." Biomaterials 49 (2015):
27-36.
Güven, Olgun, et al. "Re-emerging field of lignocellulosic fiber–polymer composites and
ionizing radiation technology in their formulation." Polymer Reviews 56.4 (2016): 702-736.
Karger-Kocsis, József, Haroon Mahmood, and Alessandro Pegoretti. "Recent advances in
fiber/matrix interphase engineering for polymer composites." Progress in Materials
Science 73 (2015): 1-43.
Ogi, Soichiro, et al. "Mechanism of self-assembly process and seeded supramolecular
polymerization of perylene bisimide organogelator." Journal of the American Chemical
Society137.9 (2015): 3300-3307.
Saba, N., et al. "A review on dynamic mechanical properties of natural fibre reinforced
polymer composites." Construction and Building Materials 106 (2016): 149-159.
ZOCCHI, GIADA. "New developments in 3D printing of composites: photocurable resins for
UV-assisted processes." (2016).