Research on novel recoating technology using ultrasonic to treat photosensitive resin

In order to increase the building resolution of stereolithography system in Z direction, a novel recoating method was proposed, where photosensitive resin was treated with ultrasonic to decrease the minimum thickness of the resin layer. Experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of ultrasonic treatment parameters on the floating property of resin. The experimental results indicate that viscosity, surface tension and contact angle decrease rapidly in the beginning 5 minutes; and then viscosity, surface tension and contact angle increase with the treatment time. When the ultrasonic power is in the range of 40-50W, the decrease magnitude of viscosity, surface tension and contact angle reach the maximum. The results of the recoating experiments demonstrate that the novel recoating method can produce thinner resin layer with a thickness of 0.01mm than recoating method (0.02mm) which does not treat resin.