The Future Will Take Shape With Printa!

Back to the Future: Printa The Future Will Be Shaped with Printa! In today's world, which is changing and transforming with advancing technology, research into new products is gaining importance. Thanks to this transformation, Altuğ Kimya continues its work with a dynamic, strong and innovative R&D team, following global trends in developing high value-added products. Today, thanks to technology developed in materials science and the printing sector, final print products with different mechanical and chemical properties can be obtained. With the processing of raw materials used in various printers by different methods, raw material requirements emerge. As the use of polymeric materials, which are present in almost every aspect of our daily lives, increases, this need is being met particularly through environmentally friendly materials with low VOC contents. Extensive research has been conducted on three-dimensional (3D) printers, first launched to the market in 1970. Because these printers were large and costly compared to the parts they produced, they were developed and different printing techniques emerged. The first robotic 3D printer was developed by Charles W. Hull in 1984, and later in 1990 Stratasys directed the technology with the fused deposition modeling (FDM) method, also known as the "3D printing" technique using plastic extrusion. Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an additive manufacturing technique that has the capacity to produce without the need for molds, tools or different auxiliary machinery with the help of software-supported design modeling, and has come into a more advantageous position compared to existing techniques. It is being incorporated into industry through prototyping in many fields such as automotive, medical, jewelry, aerospace and space, and footwear sectors, with SLA (Stereolithography) and DLP (Digital Light Processing) being among the advanced printing techniques. SLA or stereolithography is a 3D printing method using laser and resin, while DLP completes the printing process with the aid of a conventional light source. Unlike a projector screen-based system (DLP), SLA uses a single laser system directed at specific points to harden the resin and solidify a pattern layer by layer. This technology has been actively used by scientists and engineers from the 1970s to the present day in final product prototyping. Thanks to the light-sensitive system used here, when the laser comes into contact with the resin, a photopolymerization reaction transforms the resin into a solid state through the laser beam. When one layer is completed, an elevator coats the part with resin and immerses it in the resin tank. When the resin surface is fixed, the laser traces the next layer of the part, and in this way the product is ready when the final layer is completed. Considering environmental concerns arising from increased energy consumption in a globalizing world, we aim to secure our market position through an environmentally friendly, ecologically low-harm product that is at the same time high value-added and integrated with technology. With the standard resin PRINTA series that we have completed R&D work on within Altuğ Kimya, hard and durable product prints with high chemical resistance compatible with SLA and DLP three-dimensional printers can be obtained. Our colored formulations have been well received by our users, and it is clear that within a wide portfolio range they will provide support both in terms of visual appearance and technical aspects in many different areas from hobby materials to the footwear sector and molding objects...   References • Liu, W., & Xu, S. (2015). 3D Printing Technology and its Applications. Advanced Material Engineering. • Barnatt, C. (2016). 3D printing. ExplainingTheFuture.com. • Agashe, Kustubh Dattatray, et al. (2020). 3D Printing and Advance Material Technology. Vol. 13, pp. 1899–1936.   Kardelen Göksu Senior Chemist R&D Manager Altuğ Kimya