Building with volumetric additive manufacturing

In tomographic volumetric additive manufacturing (VAM), 3D objects are printed by irradiating a rotating body of photocurable resin with time-varying near-UV light patterns. Operating a VAM printer requires significant user skill and familiarity. In particular, the correct UV exposure time is estimated before or manually during printing. This results in poor repeatability and wasted resin, resulting from variation in printing rates due to resin history, object geometry, and temperature variability. In this talk we will present a robust approach to automatic print exposure setting by quantifying the side-scattered light signal, allowing the user to walk away from the printer during printing. The print is terminated automatically when print completion is detected. To demonstrate the accuracy of this technique, we will present objects built with multiple VAM-printed parts, VAM-printed mechanical metamaterials, and x-ray computed tomography scans of test objects to quantify print fidelity.