Mixed-Material 3D Printing via Homogeneous Ink Droplet Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional 3D inkjet printing technologies face challenges in achieving full-color printing with high accuracy due to uneven surfaces and dimensional inaccuracies caused by different shrinkage rates of color inks, limiting the number of colors that can be printed and affecting the quality of colored 3D objects.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that use a combination of main and auxiliary materials to print 3D objects, where each pixel is formed by ejecting multiple ink droplets of different materials, allowing for precise control of material types and quantities to ensure consistent solidification speeds and shrinkage rates, enabling full-color and mixed-material printing with improved accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional 3D inkjet printing uses color inks with different shrinkage rates, then full-color printing can be achieved, but uneven surfaces and dimensional inaccuracies occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a unified photosensitive resin material for all color inks instead of different materials with different shrinkage rates. This homogenizes the material properties across all colors, ensuring consistent solidification and shrinkage behavior, thereby eliminating surface unevenness and dimensional inaccuracies while maintaining full-color printing capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the color printing function into multiple inkjet print heads, each dedicated to a specific color (magenta, yellow, cyan, black). This segmentation allows independent control of each color channel while using the same base material, resolving the contradiction between color versatility and dimensional accuracy
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple ink droplets are stacked to form each pixel, then color mixing is achieved, but surface unevenness occurs affecting dimensional accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
By using the same photosensitive resin material for all color inks, the patent ensures homogeneous material properties across all droplets. This uniformity allows multiple droplets to be stacked and cured consistently, achieving color mixing without surface unevenness
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the material parameter (using unified photosensitive resin) while maintaining the functional parameter (color mixing through droplet stacking). This parameter change resolves the contradiction by allowing color versatility through material composition while ensuring surface uniformity through consistent material properties
3Adaptability or versatility
If different color inks are used for printing, then full-color objects can be fabricated, but material consistency becomes difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite approach where different color pigments are incorporated into a unified photosensitive resin base. This creates composite materials that maintain consistent chemical and physical properties while providing color variety, making it easier to maintain material consistency across all colors
Solution Approach 2:
The patent achieves homogeneity in the base material (photosensitive resin) while allowing heterogeneity in color pigments. This strategy maintains ease of manufacture through consistent material processing while achieving full-color capability through pigment variation
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
This approach allows for efficient and accurate full-color 3D printing by controlling the types and quantities of ink droplets, ensuring consistent material properties and reducing the difficulty of using combined materials, thereby enhancing the molding accuracy and efficiency of 3D objects.
Implementation Method 1
Because the photocurable resin materials are used, each droplet of ink ejected by the print heads can have a certain volume after cured by light
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides a method for fabricating a mixed-material 3D object, including forming, based on layer-print data of a target object, a layer-print product by one-by-one printing a plurality of pixels, using N0 types of main materials for the target object; forming a plurality of the layer-print products by repeatedly forming the layer-print product; and forming a mixed-material 3D object by stacking one of the layer-print products on another. Each of the plurality of pixels is printed by N1 types of the main materials and N2 types of auxiliary materials, N1≤N0, and when N1<N0, N2≥1, and each of the plurality of pixels is formed by ejecting a plurality of ink droplets.