STEREOLITHOGRAPHY

STEREOLITHOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

Many engineers may recall the processing deficiencies of the first generation of acrylic based resins as well as the fragility and lack of long-term dimensional stability of the finished parts. Also weeks were spent to obtain a prototype earlier. But now with stereolithography, the first rapid prototyping process, you can obtain the prototype within span of hours.

Stereolithography (SLA), the first Rapid Prototyping process, was developed by 3D Systems of Valencia, California, USA, founded in 1986.

The most commercially used and still fastest growing solid free-form fabrication (SFF) method is stereolithography, in which no tooling or machining is required. It allows an operator to build parts out of plastic before lots of money is spent on expensive machines and tools. It is a very useful process. For example if you are designing a new cell phone you can actually build a prototype overnight. By doing this you will be able to see if the phone will be comfortable to the ear before thousands of dollars are spent to make tooling that won't be used.

Stereolithography is a layer additive prototyping technology based on the use of photopolymer liquid resins which solidify when exposed to UV light.

Stereolithography, also known as 3-D layering or 3-D printing, allows you to create solid, plastic, three-dimensional (3-D) objects from CAD drawings in a matter of hours. Whether you are a mechanical engineer wanting to verify the fit of a part or an inventor looking to create a plastic prototype of an invention, stereolithography gives you a fast, easy way to turn CAD drawings into real objects. It is a very good example of the age we live in. In the past, it could conceivably take months to prototype a part -- today you can do it hours. If you can dream up a product, you can hold a working model in your hands two days later.

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