Photopolymerization of Thick Layers of Compositions for Mask-Based Stereolithographic Synthesis

Abstract

The influence of the conditions of mask-based photopolymerization of thick layers of a composition (with thickness h from 0.5 to 4.0 mm) based on dimethacrylate OCM-2 and o-quinone photoinitiator on the geometry of the resulting polymer sample has been studied. Upon photopolymerization of layers through a slit aperture of width l, the polymer formed has a cross section of trapezoid, the large base of which faces to the side of illumination. With increasing exposure, the difference in the sizes of the bases of the trapezoid decreases, which reduces roughness of an object composed of such layers. For stereolithographic synthesis of a 3D model from layers with h = 0.5 and 1.0 mm and roughness of 10 μm, the minimum slit width is achieved at l ≈ 2h.