Droplet-based
direct-write printing (one form of 3D printing) methods,
like inkjet printing, aerosol jet printing (AJP), etc., have changed
our ideas about bottom-up additive manufacturing. AJP is capable of
3D printing by depositing microdroplets that lead to certain benefits
in 3D printing of microscale structures. Here, we study the in situ photopolymerization-based curing of a microdroplet.
The droplet is simultaneously spreading and curing, which leads to
the rise of two time scales, the spreading time scale (τs) and the photopolymerization time scale (τp). When τs ≪ τp, the spreading
occurs very fast and is independent of polymerization. If the time
scales are of the same order (τs ∼ τp), the spreading is significantly affected by the polymerization.
For this case, a progressive increase in the viscosity of the drop
during the spreading ensures a much slower spreading and also a much
weaker extent of spreading (i.e., the spreading ceases at a much smaller
spreading radius of the drop). This complex thermofluidics is eventually
manifested as distinct differences in the time-dependent velocity,
temperature, and curing (or equivalently, monomer concentration) profiles
within the drop between the two cases.