50x Faster Continuous 3D Printing Technology Transferred to Korean Company
A 3D printing technology 50 times faster than existing methods has been transferred to a company. Gyeongsang National University (formerly Changwon National University) announced on the 5th that the research team led by Professor Cho Young-tae of the Smart Manufacturing Convergence Major in the School of Mechanical Engineering has signed a know-how technology transfer agreement with CariMatek Co., Ltd., a company specializing in 3D printers and materials, to transfer the 'lubricating film-equipped film for low-peel, high-speed resin refilling and its application technology.'
The technology was developed to overcome the speed and size limitations of DLP (Digital Light Processing) 3D printers, which create three-dimensional structures by curing liquid resin (photopolymer) with light. In the conventional DLP process, the printed object must be peeled off the bottom film each time a layer of resin is cured, and the resulting adhesion force makes it difficult to increase printing speed or fabricate large structures.
The research team solved this problem by forming a wide-area lubricating layer on the film surface using light, working on a principle similar to the non-stick coating of a frying pan. Since the printed object does not stick to the film, liquid resin rapidly refills the separated space, allowing the structure to be continuously fabricated as if being pulled upward without interruption. Using this technology, the team succeeded in continuously printing a 25-centimeter-tall structure at a rate of 500 millimeters per hour—about 50 times faster than typical DLP 3D printers.
Commercialization of the technology was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT's 'Next-Generation Promising Seed Technology Commercialization Fast Track' program. The program supports technologies with high commercialization potential among laboratory achievements, providing assistance with patent acquisition, technology verification, prototype development, and performance testing. With this support, the research team secured key performance data on the lubricating film, including contact angle hysteresis, light transmittance, resin refilling speed, and print separation characteristics, and built a prototype. Contact angle hysteresis is a metric for evaluating how easily a liquid adheres to or moves across a surface, and it was used to verify the performance of the lubricating film.
CariMatek, the company receiving the technology, manufactures and sells 3D printer equipment and materials and is led by CEO Lee Kwang-min. The company plans to apply the technology to its own continuous-layer DLP printers to increase printing speed and strengthen its capabilities in fabricating large-scale parts.
Professor Cho Young-tae said, "The low-adhesion surface technology verified in the lab has been refined through this program to a level suitable for incorporation into actual equipment," adding, "I hope this will serve as an opportunity to break through the speed and size limits of continuous 3D printing together with a Korean company."
