Fundamental study and theoretical analysis in a constrained-surface stereolithography system

Stereolithography (SL) technology can be classified into two types, free-surface and the constrain-surface SL systems. Constrain-surface stereolithography (SL) systems have the advantages of resin savings, reduced cost and better layer thickness control. However, the material properties of the curing process and the fabrication parameters need to be determined and optimal process parameters should be found using numerical analysis in order to eliminate trial and error. This paper reports some fundamental experiments that have been conducted in order to explore the curing properties of the resin NAF202 in an E-DARTS system. In addition, a theoretical analysis of the photopolymer curing process in the E-DARTS system has been proposed. A dynamic finite element simulation code with weight function was developed to model the point-by-point curing process in a constraine-surface SL system. A simple implementation to evaluate the developed program is presented, indicating that the proposed program can simulate the shrinkage analysis in accordance with path planning.