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8dad6beaon Carbon3D – 3D Printing via Continuous Liquid Interface Production

More videos added to the company's YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0JDc9dooc1xATvMdG7MMLQ

8dad6beaon Carbon3D – 3D Printing via Continuous Liquid Interface Production

You've got it backwards about the role of oxygen--it is being used to inhibit polymerization in this case. They are allowing oxygen to dissolve into a thin layer at the bottom of the vat so that the build doesn't stick to the membrane, and they can have a continuous draw.

The true build layer is actually within the liquid, near the bottom, but not on it.

8dad6beaon Carbon3D – 3D Printing via Continuous Liquid Interface Production

The supplementary materials, including 2 videos showing printing in real-time (keep watching, they slow down), are available without a subscription:

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2015/03/16/science.a...

Movie 1: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2015/03/16/science.a...

Movie 2: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2015/03/16/science.a...

8dad6beaon Carbon3D – 3D Printing via Continuous Liquid Interface Production

See the paper in Science released online just now: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2015/03/16/science.a...

It will apparently be the cover story. (Does this count as Sequoia breaking Science's embargo?): https://twitter.com/sequoia/status/577651625545748480

From the abstract: "...feature resolution below 100 micrometers. ... complex solid parts can be drawn out of the resin at rates of hundreds of millimeters per hour."

Key novel feature is the oxygen-permeable, UV-transmitting membrane at the bottom of the tank that creates a thin (down to 20um) inhibited 'dead zone' where the resin can't polymerize. They project the image for the current layer up through the membrane and the dead zone, so the build layer is actually within the tank. This means they can just draw the part up continuously from the top, with no stepping or processing needed after each layer. The thickness of the effective build layer can be controlled by adding a UV light-absorbing dye to the resin, which allows them to optimize for different print speeds.

Here's a relevant patent, issued in 2014, listing the 3 founders of carbon3D (formerly EIPI systems): http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20140361463.pdf

And... founder Joe Desimone also gave a Ted Talk tonight, so soon we'll even get to see a splashy 18-minute long talk about the technology. https://conferences.ted.com/TED2015/program/schedule.php