MECHANISMS OF CARBON-DIOXIDE LASER STEREOLITHOGRAPHY

Using a carbon dioxide (CO2) laser focused onto a sample composed of e poxy, diethylene triamine and silica powder, the results showed that w e were able to confine the heating in the material and, therefore, cur ing in all three dimensions. We solved the time-dependent heat equatio n in cylindrical coordinates using the Crank-Nicholson finite-differen ce method to predict the curing behavior of the resin as a function of the laser radiation conditions and devised a physical and chemical mo del that describes the process. The data show the curing rate as a fun ction of temperature, Activation energy results were derived from diff erential scanning calorimetry.