DLP Can Be Used for the Creation of Better Rubber Parts

Digital Light Processing (DLP) is one of the major 3D printing technologies available today. A type of photopolymerization, it essentially consists of the use of a video projector to cure photosensitive resins. The technology is popular both for its speed and accuracy and can be used in any number of industries. And it continues to improve.

The first company to commercialize the technology, EnvisionTEC, has made huge steps forward over the years. And since its acquisition last year by Desktop Metal, which split the company into Desktop Health and ETEC, it has shown its most exciting innovations in the field including top-down DLP, the development of new materials such as rubber and more. But how does DLP work? What exactly are the innovations that ETEC has made in the sector? And most importantly what are the applications for the technology? We took a closer look.

ETEC Extreme 8K DLP build plate (photo credits: ETEC)

How Does it Work?

Photopolymerization, or the curing of photosensitive resins with UV light, can be considered the parent of additive manufacturing. As you might know, the very first 3D printing technology was stereolithography in the 80s. However, not long after that, new technologies started to arise to address the problems inherent in SLA. This includes DLP which came into existence in 1999.