Ukrainian company Sprybuild is looking to add another emerging technology to the world of photopolymer printing. The company is touting this new technology as the fastest means of digital light processing (DLP) invented yet. While still in the testing phase, the company has secured the patent for the technology. As shown in their demo videos, their CPWC technology allows for printing at speeds of 10 mm per minute.
The company suggests that this new technology could allow for a diverse range of applications. Sprybuild have stated that it has uses in the electronics industry for cases, gears and other items as well as the medical field for devices like optical fibres and stents. They also think that it has a potential future in bioprinting. It may be able to achieve this due to how high the resolution is in comparison with other DLP and projection systems.
Continuous Production with Wavefront Converting (CPWC)
CPWC looks to be a new competitor for CLIP and other DLP style systems. Similar to DLP, Continuous Production with Wavefront Converting passes light through a resin pool to create prints on a platform. It is also reminiscent of CLIP in that the platform pulls upwards with a curing light emanating from the bottom. CPWC redistributes actinic radiation energy in microscopic layers of the print area. This gives it a massive advantage in resolution over these other systems. It also has the advantage of improved relaxation of residual stresses in the prints without affecting the print quality.
The resins that the process can use can also have additional materials for processing. Sprybuild has stated that the additional ingredients can be “nano– and microparticles, fillers, dyes, microfibers, ferromagnetics, paramagnetics, metals, luminophores, these can be various sorts of organic fillers, i.e. medications and microcapsules“..
Additionally, the process has a very diverse range of possible materials. The company has stated their machines can work with hydro-gels, photocurable silicone resins and even pohoto-polymer liquids with living cells or hydro-gels used for building organ matrices.
The company is aiming to debut the technology at Disrupt SF conference in San Francisco, September 18-20. The event features a start-up battlefield where companies can compete for a $50,000 grand prize.
Featured image and video retrieved from Sprybuild Website.