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S. Baumgartner, M. Grubhofer, J. Stampfl:
"Nacre-like toughening of photopolymers";
Talk: Radtech Europe 2017: Conference and Exhibition, Prag; 10-17-2017 - 10-19-2017.

Additive manufacturing (AM) has developed into a promising technology for various applications and provides advantages over conventional manufacturing methods like casting or milling. Drawbacks of most commercial systems available are the insufficient mechanical properties and resolution of the printed parts. At TU Wien we developed a stereolithography (SL) process based on the principal of digital light processing (DLP), combined with direct inkjet printing. With this technique we are able to print photocureable resins with high resolution and surface quality.
The target was to mimic natural structures like nacre by jetting a high elastic material into a stiff matrix to create a tough and hard composite material. Furthermore, the layer-by-layer approach allows the construction of complex structures with almost unlimited freedom of design.

AM, 3D-printing, toughening

http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/publik_263053.pdf