Carbon3D has just unveiled a groundbreaking new 3D printing process which could revolutionize the industry. Their new Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) process is between 25 and 100 times faster faster than current technology. The CLIP technology works by harnessing the power of light and oxygen to cure a photosensitive resin.
Brian Krassenstein, 3dprint.com:
Instead of printing an object layer-by-layer, which leads to incredibly slow speeds as well as a weak overall structure similar to that of shale, this new process harnesses light as a way to cure the resin, and oxygen as an inhibiting agent, to print in true 3-dimensional fashion.
“Current 3D printing technology has failed to deliver on its promise to revolutionize manufacturing,” said Dr. Joseph DeSimone, CEO and Co-Founder, Carbon3D. “Our CLIP technology offers the game-changing speed, consistent mechanical properties and choice of materials required for complex commercial quality parts.”
By bringing oxygen into the equation, a traditionally mechanical technique for 3D printing suddenly becomes a tunable photochemical process which rapidly decreases production times, removes the layering effect, and provides a technology which may just take 3D printing to the next level. The CLIP process relies on a special transparent and permeable window which allows both light and oxygen to get through. Think of it as a large contact lens. The machine then is able to control the exact amount of oxygen and when that oxygen is permitted into the resin pool. The oxygen thus acts to inhibit the resin from curing in certain areas as the light cures those areas not exposed to the oxygen. Thus the oxygen is able to create a ‘dead zone’ within the resin which is as small as tens of microns thick (about the diameter of 2-3 red blood cells). In this subsection of the resin, it is literally impossible for photopolymerization to take place. The machine will then produce a series of cross sectional images using UV light in a fashion similar to playing a movie.
via Carbon3D Unveils Breakthrough CLIP 3D Printing Technology, 25-100X Faster – 3DPrint.com.
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