Researchers from the Vienna University of Technology have a very fast 3d-printer for the printing of structures at the nanoscale have been developed. The 3d printer works on the basis of mirrors and a laser, and makes use of a liquid resin.
The researchers make for the 3d-printer use of mirrors to generate a laser beam focus and as a liquid resin on specific places to cure. The acceleration and deceleration of the rotation of the mirrors proved to be the biggest stumbling block in the development.
The liquid resin is composed of molecules which under the influence of laser light cause a chain reaction among the monomers in the resin, allowing the resin in those places has dried. This ‘catalyst’-the molecules react only if they have two photons at the same time to be absorbed and that only happens in the center of the laser beam.
The advantage of the solution of the Viennese research team is that more complex structures are to make because the layers of the structures independent of each other can be deposited. The resin can be at any 3d location cured.
The researchers think that the speed of the 3d-printer makes it possible to use the technology for medical applications.
