Porous and microporous parts prepared by additive manufacturing as disclosed herein are useful in medical and non-medical applications. The parts are prepared from a composition containing both a solvent soluble component and a solvent insoluble component. After a part is printed by an additive manufacturing process it is exposed to solvent to extract solvent soluble component away from the printed part, resulting in a part having surface cavities.

Network enabled 3D printing and automated processing techniques for oral devices are disclosed herein. An example technique includes receiving, via a network, a data file representative of a mouth of a user, and printing, by a 3D printer, a 3D oral device based on the data file. The example technique may further include automatically ejecting, from the 3D printer, the 3D oral device, and scanning the 3D oral device to generate a 3D scan file of the 3D oral device. The example technique may further include comparing the 3D scan file with the data file to determine at least one feature represented in the 3D scan file that exceeds a deviation threshold relative to a corresponding respective feature represented in the data file; and finishing, by a finishing module, the 3D oral device by smoothing the at least one feature on the 3D oral device.

An apparatus and method for treating a plastic molded article. The apparatus includes a treatment chamber that can be closed and temperature-controlled. A vapor generating unit generates vapor of a treatment liquid. A fluid connection between the treatment chamber and the vapor generating unit feeds vapor to the treatment chamber and returns condensate back to the treatment chamber. A pressure equalizing device transfers waste air at atmospheric pressure and equalizes pressure with the atmospheric pressure during treatment. The pressure equalizing device retains vapor and prevents vapor from escaping into the atmosphere. A vapor phase is generated by heating a treatment liquid to its boiling point. The treatment liquid includes a solvent that dissolves or solubilizes the plastic. The article is exposed to the vapor phase for a predetermined time and removed from the vapor phase. Residual treatment liquid present on the article is removed.

A process to cure and/or modify the surface of a three dimensional (3D) printed part comprising the steps of immersing a three dimensional (3D) printed part, containing reactive moieties, into a liquid bath at an elevated temperature to effect polymerization of the reactive moieties of the 3D printed part to provide a cured 3D printed part is described. The liquid bath can further contain reactive molecules that can react with the surface of the 3D printed part to provide a coating which alters the surface characteristics of the 3D printed part.

A system and method for cleaning and/or post-exposure of a body manufactured by using an additive manufacturing method from a substance curable by radiation, the system including a cleaning tank for cleaning the body and/or an exposure chamber for post-exposure of the body, the system further including a transport device having a drive for moving a build platform relative to the cleaning tank and/or to the exposure chamber. The transport device includes a force sensor, the force sensor captures a force acting on the build platform and provides a force signal, and is connected to a processing unit for controlling the drive and/or for outputting process parameters based on the force signal.

A method for nanoimprinting a pattern on an organic polymer substrate, comprising: (a) preparing a soft operational mold, the operational mold comprising a pattern to be replicated to the substrate; (b) soaking the operational mold in a solvent to produce diffusion of solvent to the mold; (c) removing the operational mold from the solvent, and placing it on a surface of the organic polymer substrate to form a structure, and simultaneously (i) heating the structure to a temperature T<Tg, where Tg is the glass transition temperature of the organic polymer; and (ii) applying controlled pressure in a range of 20-300 psi on the mold to effect a penetration into the surface of the organic polymer substrate, thereby to replicate the pattern of the mold to the surface of the substrate; and (d) separating the operational mold from the patterned substrate.

A method is provided for treating the surface of a molded part produced with a plastic having ester, ketone and/or ether bonds. The plastic is selected from the group including a polymer, copolymer, polymer blend and combinations of the same. The method includes a pretreatment step for cationically modifying the surface of the molded part. The cationic modification is carried out with a reactant dissolved in a solvent and having one or more amine, imine and/or amide groups.

Techniques herein include methods of patterning a substrate using surface energy differences found in some fluorinated polymers or polymers with long chain alkyl functionality that promotes surface or top layer segregation in a bilayer polymer system to facilitate overburden removal when the polymer mixture is deposited over a relief pattern. The method allows for fast removal of the overburden to expose the anti-spacer region which, after acid diffusion and subsequent deprotection, is also soluble in a developer. Incorporating the highly developer-soluble polymer at the top of the top layer removes the need for the remaining polymer to have a specific dissolution rate in developer.

Methods for post-processing photofabricated articles created via additive fabrication processes are described and claimed herein. Such methods include providing a photofabricated article, preferably an article that has been at least partially cured via cationic polymerization mechanisms, optionally, post-processing the photofabricated article, and base-washing the photofabricated article in an alkaline solution or dispersion to create a neutralized photofabricated article. In another embodiment, the methods include treating a photofabricated article having a residual acid or base species with a treatment composition in order to create a neutralized photofabricated article. Also described and claimed are the neutralized photofabricated articles created via the methods herein elsewhere described. Such articles are preferably biocompatible, especially as determined by their lack of cytotoxicity potential.

The invention relates to a method for modifying an object comprising the step of: I) providing an object which is made at least partially of a construction material comprising a thermoplastic polyurethane. The method also comprises the following steps: II) contacting, at least in part, the construction material, for a first predetermined period of time, with a first liquid comprising ≥80% by weight, based on the total weight of the first liquid, of a polar aprotic solvent; III) contacting, for a second predetermined period of time, the areas of the construction material that were in contact with the liquid in step II) with a second liquid comprising ≥80% by weight, based on the total weight of the second liquid, of a polar protic solvent. Preferably, the first liquid is DMSO or acetone and the second liquid is water.