Fundamental Research | The Application of Flexible Cycloaliphatic Epoxy Resins in 3D Printing

3D printing is a rapid prototyping technology, which is completely opposite to the traditional material removal processing methods. It is a manufacturing method that adds materials, based on three-dimensional CAD model data, typically using a layer-by-layer manufacturing approach, to directly create a three-dimensional physical entity model that is completely consistent with the corresponding mathematical model.

Photocurable 3D printing technology is one of the 3D printing technologies with lower cost, higher production efficiency, and higher molding quality. Therefore, it has a broad application prospect in the medical device field, automotive field, jewelry casting, mold manufacturing, aerospace, and so on. At present, the mainstream photocurable 3D printing technologies include Stereolithography (SLA), Digital Light Processing (DLP), and Selective Area Light Exposure (SALE) technology.

Photocurable 3D printing materials are liquid photopolymer resins, mainly composed of prepolymer resins, diluting monomers, photoinitiators, additives, etc. Cycloaliphatic epoxy resins, due to their low viscosity, low volume shrinkage rate, and fast cationic curing speed, are widely used in SLA-type 3D printing photoresins, with TTA21 being a representative cycloaliphatic epoxy resin. Toughness is one of the important indicators in the evaluation of 3D printing materials. To further improve the toughness of 3D printing materials, flexible cycloaliphatic epoxy resins can be selected, such as TTA26, with the main indicators as follows:

Compared to the classic cycloaliphatic epoxy resin TTA21, TTA26 has better flexibility, which not only improves the toughness of the material but also meets the requirements for rapid cationic curing. It is mainly used in 3D printing materials that require higher toughness.

In the following comparative cases, the main cycloaliphatic epoxy resin in Case 1 is TTA21, and in Case 2, it is TTA26. From the following data, it can be seen that the toughness of the material after curing is significantly improved with the photopolymer resin liquid composed of TTA26.