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China 3D Printing SLA Rapid Prototyping with Competitive Price
SLA 3D printing is shorthand for stereolithography (SL), a 3D
printing technology that has been in used for four decades in
various forms of development. The process was first patented in
1986 by Charles Hull, the co-founder of 3D systems, but early
technology can be traced to Japan as well.
Along with FDM 3D printing (fused deposition modeling) and SLS 3D
printing (selective laser sintering), SLA is becoming more
accessible to small businesses, entrepreneurs and other individuals
as it becomes more affordable. You might here it referred to by
additional terms including rapid prototyping, optical fabrication
and resin printing, terms that roughly apply to SLS 3D and FDM 3D
printing too.
Stereolithography is often chosen for creating prototypes and
models because it produces clean, crisp forms with layering that is
difficult to see or feel.
Like FFF (fused filament fabrication, aka FDM) 3D printing, this
technology is an additive manufacturing (AM) process. This means
that material is formed and added layer by layer to produce the 3D
object. However, much about the technology and techniques are quite
different.
Here’s are the main steps in SLA printing, though there is some
variation between printers and techniques:
It starts with a vat of liquefied photopolymer resin, meaning that
the resin reacts to light. The resin is heated a specific,
consistent temperature ideal for curing.
Inside the vat is a build platform that starts out at the top of
the vat. In most printers, the platform is coated with resin
material by a blade or armature that sweeps across it.
An ultraviolet (UV) laser, guided by computer-aided software and a
file uploaded for the specific object to be built, is directed into
the surface of the vat using two actuated mirrors known as
galvanometers. The liquefied photosensitive polymer resins are
cured by the laser as it "draws" the preprogrammed design, one
layer at a time.
The platform is lowered incrementally a distance equal to one layer
of cured resin as each layer of the prototype or product is drawn
onto its surface. Each cured layer becomes part of the piece.
For many pieces, support structures are required to eliminate
deflection caused by gravity and to support the piece laterally as
well. The supports are printed along with the product/prototype,
often attached to the build platform.
Once the SLA 3D object is finished, it is gently peeled from the
print platform, also called a bed. It is immersed in a chemical
solution that removes excess resin.
Next, the entire piece and its supports is placed in an ultraviolet
curing oven.
Finally, any support structures are trimmed from the piece, and it
is complete.