Using a high-resolution 3D printing technology is known to us as ‘two-photon lithography.’ Lithography is a technique which is normally quite slow. But researchers at the Vienna University of Technology have made a huge breakthrough in printing speed. They have developed a high-precision 3D printer that can print 5 meters in 1 second. It’s pretty amazing and it sets a new world record.
The above image is a 285-micrometer Indy car printed with two-photon lithography. It is captured by a scanning electron microscope. The tiny structures on a nanometer scale can be fabricated. The new super-fast printing technology relies on a liquid resin filled with photoactive molecules that harden when they absorb two photons from a laser beam. This resin allows a fast-moving, highly focused laser beam to quickly harden the liquid medium in just the right places. By improving the control mechanism of the mirrors that guide the laser, the research team was able to increase the speed with which the laser can blow through the liquid resin, setting with precision layer by layer. For more details, click here.
This technique for measurement is now able to cover five meters in one second. In the above image, rapidly laying down 100 layers of hardened resin each consisting of 200 single lines each in just 4 minutes. As the technique is now so fast, researchers believe this super-high-resolution fabrication technology can be applied to larger objects also.
Source And Image Credit : Vienna University of Technology
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