Effect of Carbon Nanotubes Incorporation on the Properties of a Photopolymer Resin Used in Vat Photopolymerization

This work examines the effect of the incorporation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into a photopolymer resin for the fabrication of nanocomposites via additive manufacturing (AM), using the masked stereolithography technique (MSLA) that involves layer polymerization using UV radiation. Nanocomposites with 0.1%, 0.3%, and 0.5% by weight (wt.%) of CNTs were dispersed by magnetic stirring, ultrasonic bath, and ultrasonic probe. Besides dispersion parameters, the goal of the research was also to establish the printing parameters for these nanocomposites, considering the effective UV absorption and strong agglomeration tendency of the CNTs, which reduce the 3D‐printability of the resin composite. Thermal and mechanical properties, electrical conductivity, and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) tests were conducted to characterize samples, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to reveal the morphology of the composites. The incorporation of CNTs increased the electrical conductivity and EMI SE of the resin, with the 0.5 wt.% formulation achieving the highest conductivity (8.84 ) and shielding effectiveness values of 5.38 and 5.00 ‐dB in the X‐ and Ku‐band, respectively. However, increasing CNT content also promoted filler agglomeration and a more pronounced presence of structural defects, negatively affecting the mechanical properties of the nanocomposites, with the highest filler loading reaching a 67.86% decrease in tensile strength compared to the neat resin.