Multi-Scale Manufacture for Bio-Inspired Structure Enabled by Variable Voxel Stereolithography

Li Yuanrui1, Pan Hu1, Huachao Mao1, Hermes Mark2, Zhang Lucas1, Lim Haneol1, Luhar Mitul1, Yoon Jongseung1, Yong Chen1, Wei Wu1

  • 1University of Southern California
  • 2Singapore American School

Details

15:30 - 16:15 | Wed 26 Jul | Marquis Ballroom Foyer | WePPP.22

Session: Poster I

Abstract

Stereolithography is a promising way to produce customized 3D structures. However, due to the practical throughput requirement, state-of-the-art stereolithography has to limit the total number of voxels to shorten total fabrication time. Therefore, current commercial stereolithography technologies cannot be used to fabrication multi-scale 3D structures (i.e. objects with both large volume and small features). The stereolithography technology developed by our group can overcome these limits, in a way similar to shaped-beam electron beam lithography. The basic idea is that the surface and small features can be printed in small voxels while the interior body can be printed in large voxels. The variable t voxels are achieved by varying the laser beam size, which is achieved by inserting an optical aperture/filter and changing the wavelength of the laser beam. Sub-50 um resolution and about 5X throughput improvement have been demonstrated. This technology has been used to construct 3D shark skin teeth with both high resolution and high throughput. The drag reduction effects of those 3D printed shark skin are investigated.