TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY: GasFlow DLP Printing Interface

GasFlow DLP Printing Interface, developed by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, helps resin-based 3D printing systems produce finer details, faster builds and more consistent part quality by controlling oxygen where curing happens most critically. The open-surface approach fits well with bottom-up DLP and related vat photopolymer processes, and it can enhance existing printer designs, as well as new platforms, by improving print fidelity, process stability and material flexibility.

How it Works
The system adds a second liquid beneath the printable resin inside the vat, creating a stable fluid-fluid interface between the two liquids. This interface is where the resin is polymerized, removing the need to pull the polymerized layer off the surface - an inherent default in the DLP process. The lower liquid is chosen to be an immiscible, high-density fluid, such as a perfluorinated fluid, that is treated with an inert gas and circulated continuously during printing. As it flows beneath the resin and above the transparent vat window, the lower liquid removes oxygen from the resin and introduces inert gas in its place, which reduces oxygen inhibition at the curing zone. With less oxygen interfering with polymerization, projected light can cure smaller features more reliably, more quickly and more uniformly across the part with less bleeding.

Technical Description
The patented GasFlow DLP Printing Interface is designed for additive manufacturing methods such as DLP, SLA and related photopolymer printing processes. The GasFlow DLP Printing Interface uses a first container or vat with a transparent portion, a first fluid positioned against that transparent portion and a second fluid that serves as the printable resin. The first fluid and second fluid form a fluid-fluid interface, with the first fluid located between the vat window and the resin. A circulation system moves the first fluid through the vat and an associated treatment container by way of conduits and a pumping mechanism. In representative embodiments, the first fluid is a perfluorinated solvent that has been treated with an inert gas such as nitrogen, helium, argon or carbon dioxide.

As the treated first fluid circulates, it removes oxygen from resin at the interface and helps replace that oxygen with inert gas, which improves polymerization performance at the print surface. Oxygen in standard resin systems can suppress curing, which means more energy is required than necessary which in turn can create uneven polymerization that leaves parts overcured in some regions and undercured in others making very small features difficult to print. Features below about 50 microns in diameter may fail to print when normal oxygen levels are present. GasFlow DLP Printing demonstrated print speed improvement of at least one-third, with larger gains considered possible under optimized conditions. An added benefit to flowing fluid is that the system can provide temperature-control to help manage heat buildup during printing, which can improve part quality and widen the range of usable resin chemistries.

Advantages

• Produces finer features and higher print resolution
• Reduces oxygen-related defects during curing
• Speeds printing compared with standard setups (oxygen exposed)
• Improves consistency across the part, including edge-to-center uniformity
• Supports retrofit potential for many bottom-up DLP printers
• Increases lifetime of liquid resin
• May enable use of resin chemistries that are otherwise difficult to process because of overheating or curing instability

Market Applications

• Additive Manufacturing (resin 3D printers, printer upgrades, production platforms)
• Industrial Manufacturing (precision polymer parts, lightweight structures, fabrication tooling)
• Medical and Dental (custom polymer components, device fabrication, detailed models)
• Electronics and Microfabrication (fine-feature polymer structures, patterned parts, prototyping)
• Research and Laboratory Equipment (materials development, process testing, advanced printing systems)
• Aerospace and Defense (complex geometries, lattice structures, specialty components)

TRL 4

US Patent No. 11,911,955

LA-UR-26-29477

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