3 DOF noncontact clamping stage for micro-stereolithography on embedded material

Abstract

Additive rapid prototyping categorized into fused deposition modeling (FDM) and micro-stereolithography has received increasing interest in the past decade. Recent advance in FDM enables multiple materials to be printed in the same layers of a component. However, for micro-stereolithography, it is still a challenge to fabricate complex structure embedded with another material. In this work, a noncontact ultrasonic clamping stage is proposed for micro-stereolithography to hold the material or structure encapsulated by photo-curable polymer which will be solidified after exposure to UV light. In order to achieve this, ultrasound field is generated by three 2 MHz PZT transducers in millimeter sized region of a chamber filled with photosensitive fluid. Theoretical analysis illustrates that acoustic radiation force and torque will drive micro-particles in the sound field to force potential minimum and maintain their own equilibrium posture. Finally, rectangular silica particle with 100 μ m characteristic length is used to perform the controllability of our device.