Photopolymer blends and related methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11149156-B2
Application number	US-201815962219-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 25, 2018
Priority date	Apr 26, 2017
Publication date	Oct 19, 2021
Grant date	Oct 19, 2021

Abstract

The present application relates generally to photopolymer blends and related methods for use in an additive fabrication (e.g., 3-dimensional printing) device. According to some aspects, compositions are provided for the modification of a base photopolymer resin. The compositions may comprise colorant agent and/or cure-modifying composition. The compositions may be selected to cause, when combined with the base photopolymer resin to form a photo-curable composition, at least one property (e.g., color, depth of the cure) of the photo-curable composition to fall within a pre-determined range. Related kits and methods are also generally described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A kit of components for producing photo-curable compositions for additively-manufacturing an article, the kit comprising:
a base resin component; and
a plurality of colorant components separate from the base resin component, each colorant component comprising a colorant agent,
wherein, when the plurality of colorant components are combined with the base resin component, a photo-curable composition is produced for additively-manufacturing an article having a color, wherein the photo-curable composition has the same depth of cure for a given actinic radiation irrespective of a relative ratio of the plurality of colorant components combined to produce the color.

2. The kit of claim 1 , wherein each colorant agent of the plurality of colorant components comprises at least one of a dye, a pigment, or a suspended material.

3. The kit of claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of colorant components further comprises a cure-modifying composition.

4. The kit of claim 3 , wherein each of the cure-modifying compositions of the plurality of colorant components comprises at least one of a photoinitiator species or a blocker species.

5. The kit of claim 4 , wherein each of the cure-modifying compositions of the plurality of colorant components is formulated to counterbalance the effect of the colorant agent on the depth of cure.

6. The kit of claim 1 , wherein the base resin component is free of a colorant agent.

7. The kit of claim 1 , wherein the base resin component and each of the plurality of colorant components are stored separately until combined at a point of use to produce the photo-curable composition.

8. The kit of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of colorant components comprise a cyan colorant component, a magenta colorant component, a yellow colorant component, and a black colorant component.

9. A kit of components for producing a photo-curable composition for additively-manufacturing an article, the kit comprising:
a base resin component;
a plurality of colorant components; and
a cure-modifying component separate from the base resin component, the cure-modifying component comprising at least one of a photoinitiator species or a blocker species,
wherein when the plurality of colorant components and the cure-modifying component are combined with the base resin component, a photo-curable composition is produced for additively-manufacturing an article, wherein the photo-curable composition has the same depth of cure for a given actinic radiation irrespective of a relative ratio of the plurality of colorant components combined to produce the photo-curable composition.

10. The kit of claim 9 , wherein the photo-curable composition has the same depth of cure irrespective of a color of the photo-curable composition.

11. The kit of claim 9 , wherein the base resin component is free of a colorant agent.

12. The kit of claim 9 , wherein the cure-modifying component is free of a colorant agent.

13. The kit of claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of colorant components is free of a photoinitiator species or a blocker species.

14. The kit of claim 9 , wherein the base resin component, the cure-modifying component, and each of the plurality of colorant components are stored separately until combined to produce the photo-curable composition.

15. The kit of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of colorant components are formulated such that a plurality of different resin colors may be produced upon combination of the plurality of colorant components at a point of use, without individual calibration of an additive fabrication system and/or without the verification of the additive fabrication system settings for each desired color.

16. The kit of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of colorant components are formulated such that photo-curable resins having the same depth of cure are produced, without requiring separate manufacture of the resins and/or without requiring individual calibration or adjustment of a manufacturing device.

Assignees

• Formlabs Inc

Inventors

• Megretski Dmitri
• Zieringer Maximilian
• Frantzdale Benjamin
• Lobovsky Maxim

Classifications

• B33Y70/00

  Materials specially adapted for additive manufacturing · CPC title

• C08K3/013

  Fillers, pigments or reinforcing additives · CPC title

• B33Y10/00

  Processes of additive manufacturing · CPC title

• C08K5/0041

  Optical brightening agents, organic pigments · CPC title

• C09D11/101 Primary

  Inks specially adapted for printing processes involving curing by wave energy or particle radiation, e.g. with UV-curing following the printing · CPC title