TAILOR-MADE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF 3D-PRINTED OBJECTS

 

Tensile testing of 3D inkjet-printed dog bones (E-mod, σ, Eb%,…).

Tear it till you break it!

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Inkjet 3D printing is a unique technology for the digital manufacturing of multi-material objects with high resolution. By combining different print heads in one single print job, complex objects composed of several interwoven materials having each a different physical (mechanical, optical, electrical, …), chemical or biological property can be manufactured. This allows the design of objects with unique properties and embedded functionalities. 

ChemStream develops tailored UV-inkjet 3D printing inks for several industrial applications. For different applications within this field, designing inks which result in materials having different dedicated mechanical properties is of central importance. ChemStream has developed inks for 3D inkjet printing with a broad range of mechanical properties by combining molecular design, a smart choice of building blocks and a statistical approach based on Design Of Experiment (D.O.E.).

 

During the inkjet 3D printing process, low viscous inkjet inks are jetted and cured with UV-light and transformed into a crosslinked polymeric material. On the molecular level, the chemical nature of the building blocks greatly determines the mechanical properties of the printed objects. These building blocks can be combined in order to obtain the desired properties.

 

On a modular 3D inkjet printer, which enables fast iterations of ink prototypes, ISO-normed shapes such as dog bones are printed. These dog bones are used to measure different mechanical properties such as E-modulus, tensile strength and elongation at break.​