| Jul 03, 2024 |
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(Nanowerk Information) Researchers have developed a brand new two-photon polymerization method that makes use of two lasers to 3D print complicated high-resolution constructions. The advance might make this 3D printing course of inexpensive, serving to it discover wider use in a wide range of functions.
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Two-photon polymerization is a complicated additive manufacturing method that historically makes use of femtosecond lasers to polymerize supplies in a exact, 3D method. Though this course of works properly for making high-resolution microstructures, it isn’t broadly utilized in manufacturing as a result of femtosecond lasers are costly and improve the price of printing components.
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“We combined a relatively low-cost laser emitting visible light with a femtosecond laser emitting infrared pulses to reduce the power requirement of the femtosecond laser,” stated analysis crew chief Xianfan Xu from Purdue College. “In this way, with a given femtosecond laser power, the printing throughput can be increased, leading to a lower cost for printing individual parts.”
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Within the Optica Publishing Group journal Optics Categorical (“Two-color 3D printing for reduction in femtosecond laser printing power”), the researchers present that the two-laser strategy reduces the femtosecond laser 3D printing energy wanted by as a lot as 50% in comparison with utilizing a femtosecond laser alone.
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| A brand new two-photon polymerization method combines a comparatively low-cost laser emitting nanosecond pulses with a femtosecond laser at diminished energy to allow 3D printing of complicated high-resolution constructions with much less laser energy. (Picture: Anwarul Akash, Purdue College)
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“3D printing with high resolution has many applications, including 3D electronics devices, micro-robots for the biomedical field and 3D structures or scaffolds for tissue engineering,” stated Xu. “Our novel, 3D printing approach can be readily implemented in many existing femtosecond laser 3D printing systems.”
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Discovering the precise laser stability
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The brand new work is a part of the analysis crew’s effort to repeatedly enhance the printing velocity and cut back the printing price for two-photon polymerization, which makes use of the phenomenon of two-photo absorption to exactly treatment, or solidify, a photosensitive materials.
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“In a conventional two-photon polymerization printing process, the femtosecond laser is first used to initiate a photochemical process that reduces the inhibition species in the material before printing starts,” stated Xu. “We used a low-cost laser for this purpose instead.”
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The brand new strategy combines single-photon absorption from a 532 nm nanosecond laser with two-photon absorption from an 800-nm femtosecond laser. For this to work, the researchers needed to discover the precise stability between the printing and inhibition attributable to the 2 lasers. They did this by creating a brand new mathematical mannequin to assist them perceive the photochemical processes concerned and to compute the mixed impact of two-photon and single-photon excitation processes. Additionally they used the mannequin to determine the dominant processes controlling how a lot the femtosecond laser’s energy may very well be diminished whereas nonetheless attaining fascinating printing outcomes.
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Printing detailed constructions
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After finetuning the brand new strategy, they used it to print varied 2D and 3D constructions utilizing diminished femtosecond laser energy. These included detailed woodpiles measuring simply 25 × 25 × 10 μm in addition to a micron-scale buckyball, chiral construction and trefoil knot. Experimental outcomes confirmed that the brand new technique diminished the ability required from the femtosecond laser by as much as 80 % for 2D constructions and as much as round 50 % for 3D constructions.
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“This new printing approach could impact manufacturing technologies, influencing the development of devices across consumer electronics and healthcare sectors both now and in the future,” stated Xu. The researchers are actually working to additional enhance the printing velocity and cut back the price of 3D printing.
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