Post-processing Volumetric Additive Manufacturing (VAM) Components

Volumetric additive manufacturing, a new promising 3D-printing technology, has shown great potential to revolutionize the Additive Manufacturing industry. Within the field of Volumetric Additive Manufacturing, preliminary research has predominantly been focused on improving projection algorithms and optical systems as well as expanding its applicability to different materials, and little attention has therefore been paid to the post-processing phase of the printing process itself. As the surface of components produced by volumetric additive manufacturing using currently available photopolymer and published projection algorithms is not fully cured by the end of projection, it is highly susceptible to damage and deformation in the post-processing phase. In this study, a comparison has been made between the effects of different post-processing methods and techniques on the dimensions of the final post-processed components. The results show that it is a non-trivial task to maintain the surface quality and dimensions of components produced by volumetric additive manufacturing throughout post- processing, and it is therefore important to establish a well-defined method of post-processing that consistently yields satisfactory components.