For the past two years, a team of scientists and researchers fromBerlin Aldershof科学技术园一直在开发一种新颖的双色体积3D打印方法，他们说，该方法对当前可用的3D打印技术（例如立体光刻）进行了改进。
The development of the new volumetric printing process, named xolography, is being headed up by Dirk Radzinski, founder of Berlin Aldershof startup firmxolo, alongside IRIS Aldershof chemist Stefan Hecht and physicist Martin Regehly. According to the creators, the new process solves three “serious limitations” in traditional resin printing; speed, surface quality, and material properties.
Radzinski说：“这是体积打印的开始。”“与每项新技术一样，它将需要一些时间才能开发，并且将从利基市场开始。但是，鉴于如今的开发速度和鉴于我们只花了几个人来开发这项技术的有限时间，我真的很期待实力印刷的未来。”
Volumetric 3D printing
Volumetric 3D printing is regarded as the next step onwards from sequential additive manufacturing methods and involves printing from all spatial directions at the same time to produce整个物体在几秒钟内. The method has been aroundfor some time, although there have been a number of advances in the technology in recent years.
In 2017, researchers from a collection of US-based universities demonstrated an approach tolayer-free volumetric 3D printing，虽然最近使用的3D打印已用于构建基于钙钛矿的太阳能电池板. Elsewhere, a collaboration between theUniversity Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht和ÉcolePolytechniquefédéraledelausanne（EPFL）看到了体积3D生物打印过程的开发free-form tissue structures.
How does xolography work?
Xolography是一种双色体积3D打印过程，与立体光刻一样，它使用光治疗光蛋白。然而，尽管在立体光刻期间将光投射到含树脂的增值税中时，固化沿整个轻路进行，但Xolography过程需要两个不同的光波长才能开始聚合过程。无论蓝色和红光在任何地方相交并同时遇到树脂中的两色光吸剂，就会发生固化。
The scientists have so far demonstrated their method by successfully 3D printing a ball, a ballerina, a “thinker” statue, a benchy, and even a dental mold.
Xolography与常规3D打印方法
According to Radzinski, xolography has three main distinctive features that set it apart from other resin 3D printing technologies which utilize light to cure a photopolymer. First of all, the xolography process is significantly faster due to there being no movement of the build plate and polymerization not needing to be finished before the next part can be cured.
Secondly, the surface of parts printed via xolography is exceptionally smooth, owing to the speed of the process while maintaining high printing resolution. The scientists’ paper states that xolography can achieve a resolution 10 times higher than that of all previously known macroscopic volumetric printing processes, with the aim being to print optical grade components without the need for polishing – a feat that is currently not possible with existing technologies.
第三个主要区别涉及Xolography工艺中使用的印刷材料，Radzinski说，这具有“巨大潜力”，以显示制造中所需的属性。Xolography使用高粘性树脂，而立体光刻是不可能的，因为树脂必须在构建板和印刷窗口之间迅速流动。越来越多的粘性树脂具有更长的分子链，这使科学家能够产生更坚固，更耐用的物体。
Radzinski补充说：“还有很多其他优势。”“例如，如果您可以在卷中自由地介绍体素，则可以将对象打印到整个机器上。使用普通的树脂打印机，您需要一个支撑结构才能将对象固定在适当的位置。在体积打印中，树脂支持对象。”
Potential applications
Xolography is well-suited to printing small-scale objects up to around 10cm in size, with Radzinski eyeing up the model sizes within the dental or hearing aid markets as potentially “perfect” applications for the method. The optical market with free form lenses, light conductors, and particularly optic designs that cannot be produced through injection molding, are also areas of interest to the scientists.
Currently, xolography applications are rare across the aerospace and automotive markets, as it does not make sense to print very large objects in a volume of resin, Radzinski says, although there is the occasional use case for smaller sized objects in the automotive sector. The versatility of the xolography method means the scientists can print both hard and soft objects, which could have significant implications for the future manufacturing of optical, fluidic, and biomedical devices.
Radzinski说：“在材料谱的另一端是打印水凝胶。”“这项技术非常有希望在更遥远的将来可以在组织工程和潜在的印刷器官中生物构成脚手架。”
Further details on the xolography method can be found in the paper titled“Xolography for linear volumetric 3D printing”,published in the Nature journal. The paper is co-authored by M. Regehly, Y. Garmshausen, M. Reuter, N. König, E. Israel, D. Kelly, C. Chou, K. Koch, B. Asfari, and S. Hecht.
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Featured image shows a ball 3D printed via xolography by the Aldershof scientists. Image via Dirk Radzinski/xolo.
