Composite 3D Printing Inks for Chroma and Jettability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing 3D printing inks are often highly pigmented, leading to issues with jettability, stability, and curability, and require different photoinitiator amounts for various colors, affecting efficiency and cost.
Innovation Solution
Development of composite inks comprising an optically transparent carrier ink with a colorant dispersed at 0.01 to 5% weight percentage, offering high colloidal stability and excellent jettability, with a chroma within 20% of the colorant's maximum, and utilizing a curable material for polymerization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If high pigment concentration is used to provide colored printed parts, then chroma is improved, but jettability and stability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by precisely controlling the pigment concentration within 0.01-5 wt% and adjusting carrier ink transparency (70-95% transmission) to achieve optimal chroma while maintaining jettability and stability. This resolves the contradiction by finding the precise parameter range where both high chroma and good reliability coexist.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite materials by formulating a multi-component ink system consisting of curable material (30-70 wt%), carrier ink (5-60 wt%), and pigment (0.01-5 wt%), along with photoinitiators and stabilizers. This composite approach allows the ink to simultaneously achieve good jettability (from carrier ink), curability (from curable material), and chroma (from pigment).
2Illumination intensity
If high pigment load is used to achieve desired color, then chroma is improved, but curability efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by optimizing pigment concentration (0.01-5 wt%) and carrier ink transparency (70-95% transmission) to ensure sufficient light penetration for photopolymerization. This allows achieving desired chroma while maintaining curability efficiency, as the transparent carrier ink does not block the curing light.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses the carrier ink as an intermediary medium that disperses pigment particles and allows light transmission. The carrier ink acts as a mediator between the pigment (which provides chroma) and the curing light (which enables curability), allowing both functions to coexist without interference.
3Reliability
If different photoinitiator amounts are used for different colors, then curability is maintained, but process complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by using a single transparent carrier ink formulation that works with all pigment colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and white). The carrier ink and photoinitiator system is designed to be color-independent, allowing the same base formulation to be used across all color variants, thereby reducing process complexity and cost while maintaining curability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The composite inks provide improved chroma and chromaticity in 3D printed parts with enhanced jettability and stability, reducing the need for excessive pigmentation and optimizing curability.
Implementation Method 1
a colorant dispersed in the carrier ink in an amount of about 0.01 to 5 weight %
Implementation Method 2
an optically transparent or substantially transparent carrier ink comprising a curable material
Data Source
AI summary
In one aspect, inks for use with a three-dimensional printing system are described herein. In some embodiments, an ink described herein is a composite ink. Such a composite ink, in some cases, comprises an optically transparent or substantially transparent carrier ink comprising a curable material; and a colorant dispersed in the carrier ink in an amount of about 0.01 to 5 weight %, based on the total weight of the composite ink.