Effect of various reactive diluents on the mechanical properties of the acrylate-based polymers produced by DLP/LCD-type 3D printing

Abstract

The mechanical properties of the products obtained by 3D printing heavily depend on the choice of main resins and reactive diluents. In this study, we investigated the influence of different reactive diluents on the mechanical properties of the products derived from polyester acrylate (PEA), urethane acrylate (UA), and silicone acrylate (SiA) resins using DLP/LCD type 3D printing. As reactive diluents, 1,6-Hexanediol Diacrylate (HDDA), di(propylene glycol) diacrylate (DPGDA), trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA), and TMPTA10 were used in main resins. TMPTA10 was prepared in this study, which includes TMPTA, DPGDA and HDDA in its composition. While TMPTA is a reactive diluent with three acrylate functional groups, DPGDA and HDDA have two acrylate functional groups. Our results revealed that while the products with TMPTA reactive diluent significantly enhanced the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and Young's modulus, they led to a decrease in Izod impact strength. To address this, TMPTA10 was formulated and incorporated into the main resins, resulting in improved Izod impact strength while maintaining or enhancing UTS and Young's modulus. Notably, the products prepared by using UA resin with TMPTA or TMPTA10, and PEA resin with TMPTA10 exhibited exceptional mechanical properties compared to the other products. These findings highlight the importance of reactive diluent selection in optimizing the mechanical performance of the products obtained by DLP/LCD type 3D Printing.