3D printing has been an up and coming technology over the past few years but has really struggled to deliver on its promise to transform the manufacturing industry. 3D printing technology thus far has really just been 2D printing repeated over and over again which can be extremely long processes. A California based startup company, Carbon3D, have taken the next step in 3D printing by introducing a new breakthrough technology that utilizes UV light to grow objects out of liquid.
Carbon3D has developed a new technology called Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) that can be anywhere from 25 to 100 times faster then your typical 3D printer. Where most 3D printers deposit plastic layer by layer onto a substrate, CLIP uses a light projection system to "grow" objects out of a pool of UV-curable resin. The process works by carefully balancing the interaction of light and oxygen. Where UV light activates photo polymerization (hardening) of the resin, oxygen inhibits it. The printer will project light through an oxygen-permeable window into a reservoir of UV curable resin. This special window is the key to how the UV light and oxygen interact with the resin. Sequences of UV images are projected continuously through the bottom of the reservoir. By controlling the oxygen flux through this special window, CLIP creates a "dead zone" which is essentially a thin layer of uncured resin between the window and the object. This allows the object to harden in certain spots and grow without stopping as the object is slowly drawn from the resin pool. CLIP is basically a chemical process that influences the interactions between UV light and oxygen that can eliminate the mechanical steps and layering of traditional printers. The CLIP process will be managed by sophisticated software that controls the different variables needed to grow the object.
There are a few distinct advantages that CLIP technology has over traditional 3D printing techniques. One of the most crucial advantages is that the CLIP technology is dramatically faster then your traditional 3D printing technology. It also produces much higher-resolution prints compared to the traditional plastic layered 3D models. Objects that are produced with the CLIP technology look very similar to injection-molded plastics, and come out of the resin pool without any noticeable layers like that in traditional 3D printers. Another benefit of this process is that it is now possible to print objects from a wide array of materials. Carbon3D is able to draw from the entire polymer family meaning they can make objects out of everything from silicone to rubber to polyester. This would be extremely beneficial for any company that utilizes different polymers in their manufacturing process.
Carbon3D's printer technology isn't officially on the market yet, but the company is backed by some of the biggest venture firms in the game. They have already raised over $40 million to commercialize this CLIP technology as fast as possible. If everything goes to plan these CLIP printers should be making their way onto the market by the end of this year and really changing the game in 3D printing.
That was a really informative post. It's quite awesome to see how far 3D printing has come over the past few years. At first 3D printers were extremely expensive and out of reach for most consumers; however, we can now buy them for a little over $100 which is quite astonishing. This new procedure that you described sounds like the next evolution for this technology. You also mentioned that the objects produced with the CLIP method bare close resemblance to injection molded components which leads me to wonder if this sort of technology will ever replace injection molding as a means for manufacturing. Though it seems unlikely for now due to the probable high costs, the same was said before about regular 3D printing which is now reasonably affordable.
ReplyDeleteThe technology you described, and 3D printing in general, have the potential to be really transformative. As with any industry in its infancy, I’m sure we’ll see many 3D printing innovations such as this one. I hope that it’s not too far off that 3D printers will be cheap enough for most people to afford, and practical enough that most people would want one. With innovations such as the one you wrote about, it seems like 3D printing is getting better and better.
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