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Traditional 3D printers are too slow and take hours or even days to print an object. That’s because current 3D printing technology works really just 2D printing, by sandwiching individual layers over and over again at a speed of just few millimetres per hours.
Carbon3D, a California-based company, is going to revolutionize the way we print 3D objects.
The innovative company has created CLIP (Continuous Liquid Interface Production), a machine that works up to 100 times faster than today’s traditional printers by growing objects instead of printing them layer by layer.
“Current 3D printing technology has failed to deliver on its promise to revolutionize manufacturing,” said Dr. Joseph DeSimone, CEO and Co-Founder, Carbon3D. “Our CLIP technology offers the game-changing speed, consistent mechanical properties and choice of materials required for complex commercial quality parts.”
CLIP replaces the layer-by-layer approach, which is required by the traditional 3D printer, with a chemical process based on the use of UV light to solidify the resin and the oxygen to keep it from solidifying.
As a continuous sequence of UV images are projected, CLIP continuously grows objects from a pool of liquid resin by balancing UV light and oxygen.
CLIP’s novel technologies is not only faster than conventional ones, it offers an unprecedented quality too. Parts printed with CLIP are in fact much more like injection-molded parts. CLIP produces consistent and predictable mechanical properties, creating parts that are smooth on the outside and solid on the inside. In addition Carbon3D has tailored its printing process so that a huge range of materials can be used to respond to specific requirements, from the high elasticity needed for athletic shoes to the strength and temperature resistance needed for automotive parts. This means that very soon this technology may become widely employed by the manufacturing industries like aerospace and automotive.
Prototypes of the CLIP machine are currently being tested at Ford as well as Hollywood special effects companies.
Source: Carbon3D