Tailoring properties of photopolymers for additive manufacturing with mixture design

This study illustrates the application of the principles of the design of experiments for the development of photocurable resins for additive manufacturing with easily adjustable mechanical and thermal properties. Photocurable resins were prepared using a combination of various oligomers and monomers, cured in a UV-curing system, and characterized in terms of mechanical and thermal properties. Photocurable resins for stereolithography were prepared using varying concentrations of photoinitiator and pigment, 3D printed and characterized in terms of processability as well as mechanical and thermal properties. Multi objective optimization was performed to obtain the compositions with the highest desirability. The proposed approach enables convenient tailoring properties of photocurable resins by varying just four basic components.