Influence of aerogel powder on the mechanical and stability properties of photocurable resin composites produced by stereolithography (SLA)

Abstract This study looked into how adding aerogel affected the dynamic stability, mechanical, and damping characteristics of 3D-printed specimens made using SLA technology. Using the mechanical properties discovered via experimental research, a computer algorithm based on finite element theory was developed to calculate the dynamic instability zones of the composite specimens with varying weight ratios of the aerogel particles. The investigations revealed that as the aerogel content increases, the specimens’ compressive strength increases as well. However, when the aerogel content was more than 1 wt.%, the specimens’ tensile properties were unable to improve continually due to the difficulty of dispersion of aerogel in the resin. A similar tendency has also been seen for the damping property of specimens reinforced by the aerogel particles. The results show that the proper amount of aerogel improves mechanical properties and damping properties of the resin, which has brittle characteristics. Furthermore, it has been determined that when the aerogel weight ratio rises, the instability region gets wider as the dynamic load parameter rises. Conversely, when aerogel contribution increases, so do parametric resonance frequency values.