Two-photon lithography

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3D printing with two-photon lithography is a photopolymerization process. A corresponding high-precision 3D printer was developed at the Technical University of Vienna in 2012 . 3D printers create objects by applying material layer by layer.

Photopolymerization

In 3D printing through photopolymerization , photopolymers are used for manufacturing. This material is liquid in its initial state and has the property that it hardens when it is irradiated with UV light. A typical photopolymer that is used as printing material is epoxy resin. Polymerization is a chain reaction, in which molecules are linked to form macromolecules (polymers). This process turns a liquid mixture of monomers (single molecules) into a hardened, linked plastic (Gebhardt, 1996). All photopolymerization processes basically work with the same technology, but differ in the procedure. Basically, 3D printing with two-photon lithography can be compared with stereolithography .

Printing process

With the help of two-photon lithography, three-dimensional parts can be produced with nano-precision. The artificial resin is cured by a laser that is guided by moving mirrors. Since the resin only reacts at the focal point of the laser beam (→ two-photon absorption ), the beam can be directed through several layers, whereby only the desired layer hardens. In addition, it is focused very strongly, so that it is possible to harden parts in the resin that are less than a ten-thousandth of a millimeter (100 nm) in diameter. Not only the precision was revolutionized by this printing process. The control of the mirrors that direct the laser beam has also been improved to such an extent that a hundred layers can be printed in just a few minutes.

literature

Monographs

  • A. Gebhardt: Rapid prototyping, tools for rapid product development. Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich Vienna 1996.
  • A. Gebhardt: Understanding Additive Manufacturing. Carl Hanser Verlag Munich Vienna 2012.
  • P. Fastermann: 3D printing / rapid prototyping, a future technology - explained in a compact way. Springer Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 2012.

Dissertations

  • Torsten Abel: Two-photon polymerization for the generation of microstructured 3D free-form targets for laser ion acceleration . Technical University Darmstadt 2018. Available online ( CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 )
  • Carsten Eschenbaum: Two-photon lithography for the production of optofluidic systems . Karlsruhe Institute of Technology 2016. Available online ( CC BY-SA 3.0 DE )
  • Anika Trautmann: Two-photon polymerisation as a method for the production of medical technical functional elements . Technical University Darmstadt 2018. Available online ( CC BY-SA 4.0 )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 3D printer with nano-precision. Accessed May 30, 2016