TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY: GasFlow DLP Printing Interface

Scope

GasFlow DLP Printing Interface, developed by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, helps resin-based 3D printing systems produce finer details, faster builds and more consistent part quality by controlling oxygen where curing happens most critically.

The open-surface approach fits well with bottom-up DLP and related vat photopolymer processes, and it can enhance existing printer designs, as well as new platforms, by improving print fidelity, process stability and material flexibility.

How it Works The system adds a second liquid beneath the printable resin inside the vat, creating a stable fluid-fluid interface between the two liquids.

This interface is where the resin is polymerized, removing the need to pull the polymerized layer off the surface - an inherent default in the DLP process.

The lower liquid is chosen to be an immiscible, high-density fluid, such as a perfluorinated fluid, that is treated with an inert gas and circulated continuously during printing.

As it flows beneath the resin and above the transparent vat window, the lower liquid removes oxygen from the resin and introduces inert gas in its place, which reduces oxygen inhibition at the curing zone.

With less oxygen interfering with polymerization, projected light can cure smaller features more reliably, more quickly and more uniformly across the part with less bleeding.

Technical Description The patented GasFlow DLP Printing Interface is designed for additive manufacturing methods such as DLP, SLA and related photopolymer printing processes.

The GasFlow DLP Printing Interface uses a first container or vat with a transparent portion, a first fluid positioned against that transparent portion and a second fluid that serves as the printable resin.

The first fluid and second fluid form a fluid-fluid interfac...