Improving the dimensional accuracy of micro parts 3D printed with projection-based continuous vat photopolymerization using a model-based grayscale optimization method
Date
2022-09Source Title
Additive Manufacturing
Print ISSN
2214-8604
Electronic ISSN
2214-7810
Publisher
Elsevier
Volume
57
Pages
1 - 14
Language
English
Type
ArticleItem Usage Stats
7
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27
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Abstract
Micro-scale additive manufacturing has seen significant growth over the past years, where improving the
accuracy of complex micro-scale geometries is seen as an important challenge. Using grayscale images rather
than black and white images during production is an effective method to improve the fabrication quality. This
paper presents a model-based optimization method for improving the dimensional accuracy of parts using
voxel-based grayscale dynamic optimization during continuous 3D printing. A detailed solidification model
has been developed and used to estimate the curing dynamics of the resin used in 3D printing. The irradiance
of the light beam projected for each pixel influences a larger volume on the resin than the targeted voxel.
The proposed model-based method optimizes the images considering the light distribution from all closely
related pixels to maintain the accuracy of the micro part. The results of this method have been applied to the
printing of a complex 3D part to show that optimized grayscale images improve the areas with overcuring
significantly. It is shown that the number of overcured voxels was reduced by 24.7% compared to the original
images. Actual printing results from our experimental setup confirm the improvements in the accuracy and
precision of the printing method.