Preparation and characterization of 3D printable flexible acrylate-based resin

Abstract

The aim of this study was to prepare an acrylate-based 3D printable resin that showed flexible properties after photopolymerization and to characterize mechanical-physicochemical properties of polymerized objects. The experimental resin contained butyl acrylate (BA) and urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA) in 7:3 weight ratio, phenylbis(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl) phosphine oxide (BAPO) in 0.2 %w/w and ethyl 4-(dimethylamino) benzoate in 0.4 %w/w. Tensile strength measurements were performed by Intron 5544. The curing times were 1, 2 and 5 min. FT-IR spectroscopy was used for the degree of conversion (DC) measurements on the top and bottom surfaces of specimens. The tensile strength data of resin increased with polymerization time. Behind this is a higher degree of polymerization, which is also supported by the conversion data. A trial printing of experimental resin revealed that this matrix can be applied in an SLA 3D printer.

Keywords

• 3d printing
• sla printing
• flexible acrylate polymer
• photopolymer
• tensile strength
• polymerization conversion