, the research group led by Prof. Wu Lixin from Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter of the Chinese Academy of Sciences proposed 3D printing of high-performance elastomers through vat photopolymerization.and mechanical properties, and selected polytetramethylene ether glycols with different molecular weights as reactants to react with isophorone diisocyanate . The obtained polyurethane blocked oligomers exhibited high viscosities.
To increase the polymerization degree, increasing the proportion of oligomer is the most direct and effective way. However, the viscosity of the resin system also increases dramatically. The previously developed linear scan-based vat photopolymerization can effectively solve this problem by direct 3D printing the high-viscosity resin.
By the merit of the broadened process windows, the researchers synthesized oligomers containing tert-butyl hindered urea bonds , which would deblock at high temperatures and re-block at room temperature. During the, the HUBs and viscous compounded oligomers underwent cross-linking via a free radical polymerization mechanism to produce green parts.
With the wide process window capability of the LSVP system, which allows for 3D printing of high-viscosity resin, the researchers replaced the conventional monomer with a high-viscosity oligomer compounded with the as-prepared PUB to create the 3D printable UV-curable resin. Corresponding mechanical tests revealed that PUB2000-HMDA showed the highest ultimate engineering stress of 25.9 ± 1.6 MPa, along with the highest strain of 1605 ± 63%. The tensile toughness, measured as the integral area beneath the strain–stress curve, was 142.