Development of DLP 3D printer with multiple composite materials

Since most commercialized DLP 3D printers fabricate 3D structures by sinking materials to Vat using a bottom-up method, it is difficult to use various materials simultaneously and there are many restrictions on printing composite materials. Especially, composite resin mixed with various functional powders in photo curable resin generally has high viscosity, causing difficult material flow in the bottom-up method when using Vat. Additionally, most of the previously presented methods for fabricating multi-material structure use individual curing for each material, so the adhesion force at the contact surface is less than 50% compared to single material. Thus, in this paper, we propose a new type of DLP 3D printer that combines Material Extrusion and the DLP system. The proposed equipment can supply high viscosity composite material resins to a specific area to cure various materials simultaneously. This method will enable fabrication of multiple composite material structures with sufficient adhesion force. The tensile test will be performed to verify suitability of the proposed method.