Synthesis and Characterisation of Acrylic Resin-Al Powder Composites Suitable for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Stereolithography is an additive manufacturing technology commonly used to build either prototypes or final parts. Nevertheless, the manufacture of structural parts has been ruled out owing to the poor mechanical properties of conventional UV-curable resins. Moreover, the inventory of available commercial resins is still limited and they exhibit low thermal and electrical conductivity values. In this work, some composite materials were designed using Al microparticles dispersed within an SLA commercial resin matrix. These composites overcame the difficulties caused by the light scattering effect during the photopolymerisation process in the SLA technology. Dispersion of the filler was characterised by means of SEM/EDX and AFM. The composites exhibited improved thermal and mechanical behaviour in comparison with the pristine resin. The simplicity of the synthesis method used to prepare the composites provides a convenient starting point to explore new ways of designing composites for SLA with improved mechanical and functional properties.

Experimental measurement of thermal conductivity of stereolithography photopolymer resins

“…On the other hand, three different types of resins manufactured by SL have been measured, obtaining similar values among them, and similar to those reported in the literature shown in this article. The highest thermal conductivity value is obtained for the standard resin, which is 0.366 ± 0.056 W/m K. As expected, this thermal conductivity value is lower than the values of the resins thermally doped with nanoparticles, conductivities around 0.600 W/m K for the resins [4], and 0.24 W/m K for the Aladditivated filaments [5].…”

“…Nonetheless, it should be taken into account that these are studies in which nanofibers have been introduced into the materials to increase their thermal conductivity and it is logical that this value extracted from the literature corresponds to an addition of 3% Cu in the composition of the resin. Furthermore, the resins thermal conductivity is similar but higher than commercial additivated filaments ones with 25% Al additives, which is of 0.24 W/m K, as published in the article by Melchels et al [5].…”

“…However, the agglomeration of higher concentration of nanoparticles causes poor dispersion and improper cross-linking density. There are also references of the addition of aluminum particles to filaments used in additive fused wire deposition manufacturing (FDM) to improve thermal conductivity [5]. In this technology, the material from a wire coil is melted and deposited in layers, generating a geometry when the material solidifies.…”

New Metal–Plastic Hybrid Additive Manufacturing for Precise Fabrication of Arbitrary Metal Patterns on External and Even Internal Surfaces of 3D Plastic Structures

“…Light-curable resins are usually modified by incorporating nano-powders or their solution with specific desired properties as fillers, along with dispersants that ensure the uniform distribution of these fillers. , The active precursors required in our study can also be obtained by dispersing active seeds into any photocurable resin whose sensitive wavelength is 405 nm (Supporting Information Figure S3). − But the stability of modified resins prepared in such a manner is low because the filler tends to eventually settle (after 1–2 days) such that the material becomes inhomogeneous.…”

Synthesis and Characterization of Fiber-Reinforced Resorcinol Epoxy Acrylate Applied to Stereolithography 3D Printing

“…Immense progression has been observed in the technology of photocuring resins over other conventional resin curing systems. Single-component formulation, a fast curing rate, environment friendliness, and time and energy efficiency are some of the befitting advantages provided by the photocuring resin technology. − Studies are reported using nanofiller reinforcement such as silicon dioxide, graphene oxide, alumina, titanium carbide, and carbon black in photocuring resins for additive manufacturing. − Experiments are demonstrated based on the reinforcement of natural and synthetic fibers in photocuring resins to create 3D-printed fiber-reinforced composites . There are numerous advantages in terms of strength, thermal stability, chemical resistance, abrasion, etc.…”