Abstract
Curing a layer with an area exposure instead of dot scanning is an approach to faster stereolithography. The authors previously reported a direct-mask stereolithography in which a mask pattern to block UV light (negative mask) is directly drawn onto photopolymer resin and then the surface is exposed with a UV lamp. In that method, however, uncured resin is mixed with the mask material, cannot be used again, and becomes waste. That should be a problem from viewpoints of environment as well as cost. To solve such problems, this paper proposes a new stereolithography using a liquid photo initiator and photopolymer resin without photo initiator separately. First, photopolymer resin is supplied as a layer, and then a mask patter is drawn onto the surface with photo initiator using inkjet. When the surface is exposed with a UV lamp, only the drawn pattern is cured by the photo initiator. In this process, the photo initiator works as a positive mask and the uncured resin can be used again because it is not mixed with the photo initiator. The proposed idea is examined through some basic experiments and its feasibility is confirmed.
