Application of Dynamic Masking on Rapid Prototyping

In rapid prototyping (R-P) technologies, curing of UV-curable photopolymers is mainly achieved by the application of laser scanning with limited fabrication speed. The dynamic masking approach can improve the fabrication speed; however, current researches and available systems cure photopolymers with visible light rather than UV light. In this research, we have attempted to develop a UV dynamic masking RP system by implementing digital micro-mirror device (DMD) from digital light processing (DLP) technology and TFT liquid crystal display (I-CD) panel. A DLP projector was disassembled and the main components were then recombined to form a dynamic mask generator. Thus, this study has shown the feasibility of obtaining a UV dynamic masking RP system that may be integrated for a UV-curable material processing.