Fabrication of Biodegradable UV-Curable Resin via Stereolithography for Wearable Jewelry

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as three-dimensional printing (3D Printing), has made remarkable achievements in electronics, industrial design, architecture, medical application, automotive industry and aerospace, etc. In recent years, it gradually emerged in jewelry industry. This paper develops a new formulation of biodegradable UV-cured resin with biosafety for stereolithography apparatus (SLA) and performs a comprehensive analysis of its 3D printability, mechanical properties, internal and external conditions via viscometer, thermogravimetric analysis, mechanical testing machine, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FITR) and scanning electron microscope, etc. The results indicate that the formulation possesses low viscosity as well as proper thermal stability at room temperature which is suitable for 3D printing of jewelry. The tensile strength and flexural strength changes with the accuracy of 3D printing. FITR result shows that N-O stretching vibration peak indicates that the resin reacts with diluent completely. Under the microscope, the number of bubbles and powder decrease with the 3D printing precision increasing. Scanning electron microscope shows that the higher the precision, the more uneven the fracture surface and the better the machine properties. Finally, the biodegradable UV-cured resin is used for jewelry printing and various series of jewelry are obtained.