Investigation of the compression strength of isobornyl acrylate‐modified standard resin for MSLA 3D printing: a preliminary study

Additive manufacturing is a new advanced manufacturing technology that can generate complex shapes with high dimensional precision and accuracy, and with less material waste. Masked stereolithography (MSLA), a vat photopolymerization technique, is one of the additive manufacturing methods that provides low‐cost fabrication, high surface quality, high printing resolution, and good dimensional accuracy. Conventional photopolymer resins typically have poor mechanical properties, however, especially brittleness, which hinders their use for many engineering applications. The effect of isobornyl acrylate (IBAO) incorporation on the mechanical and microstructural properties of MSLA‐printed photopolymer specimens was studied. To make these different resin formulations, IBOA was mixed with a standard photopolymer resin to give a homogeneous mixture, which contained 0–15 wt% IBOA. Samples were printed as cylindrical compression specimens, following the ASTM D695 standard. All specimens were printed, then UV post‐cured to enhance mechanical properties and structural stability. Mechanical performance tests were carried out by uniaxial compression, and the fracture behavior, changes of the internal structures, and surface morphology of the compressed samples were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy. The compressive performance of the specimens was greatly enhanced by the addition of IBOA. The specimen with 10 wt% IBOA exhibited the highest compressive strength of 122 MPa, which is about 43.5% higher than that of the specimen with pure resin. SEM analysis also showed that optimal IBOA concentration resulted in better interlayer bonding, lower defect density, and more uniform fracture morphology.