Stereolithography has numerous advantages for designers, OEMs and manufacturers to:
Reduce your product development cycle
Differentiate your products with the latest material advancements
Create customized parts, with fast turn-around on design changes
Reduce costs for pre-industrial or short-run productions
Find new cost effective molding solutions (metal investment casting)
Discover how stereolithography technology with Somos® resins from DSM provide significant benefits at each stage of your design process:
Stereolithography can allow you to produce complex geometries with an excellent surface finish, but more importantly, it offers incredible speed at which a prototype can be developed. Typically, stereolithography can produce finished parts in only 1 to 2 days. The advantages of stereolithography become even greater when you look at the thermoplastic-like mechanical properties of the advanced Somos® Resins. The same model can often be used for concept modeling, assembly / fit testing and functional testing!
What is the manufacturing process for Stereolithography?
Stereolithography is an additive fabrication process that produces parts of any design in a pool (vat) of UV-curable photopolymer resin using a computer controlled laser. The laser is used to trace out and cure a cross-section of the part design on the surface of the liquid resin.
The solidified layer is then lowered just below the surface of the liquid resin and the process is repeated. Each newly cured layer adheres to the layer below it. This process continues until the part is completed. Typical layer thicknesses range from .050mm (.002in) to .15mm (.006in).
