Most additive manufacturing methods such as fused-deposition modelling, selective laser melting or stereolithography create objects sequentially one layer at a time. This type of process imposes limitations on the shapes and the materials that can be printed. For example, overhanging structures need additional supports during printing, and soft or elastic materials are difficult to print since they deform as new layers are added. While casting can be used instead to create certain elastic parts, design freedom is limited because cavities or tubes are difficult to unmold. We are working on a volumetric 3D printing method based on tomography, where the entire volume of a photopolymerizable resin is solidified at the same time. We demonstrated very rapid (<30s) printing of a variety of complex structures with acrylates and silicones.
Paper: Volumetric 3D printing (november 2018)
Contacts: Damien Loterie, Paul Delrot and Christophe Moser.