Fig. 4: Investigating the influence of the printing resolution and LC content and proposed orientation mechanism for photosensitive resins. | Nature Communications

Fig. 4: Investigating the influence of the printing resolution and LC content and proposed orientation mechanism for photosensitive resins.

From: Light-oriented 3D printing of liquid crystal/photocurable resins and in-situ enhancement of mechanical performance

Fig. 4: Investigating the influence of the printing resolution and LC content and proposed orientation mechanism for photosensitive resins.The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

a Tensile strength. b Flexural strength. c Impact strength, d Hardness, e XRD of PR-5CB resins at different printing resolutions and contents. f POM of PR-5CB-3//(25 µm) after extracting 5CB LCs. g Analyzing the effect of printing resolution and 5CB content on the structure of 3D-printed products. The orientation degree was varied by adjusting the printing resolution of PR-5CB-3// from 25 to 100 µm, and the aggregated LCs floated on the surface to form microcrystals after adjusting the printing contents from PR-5CB-3// to PR-5CB-7//. h Proposed mechanism: 5CB molecules preferentially align in a direction parallel to the UV light vibration vector, and the orientation of 5CB subsequently governs the oriented polymerization of monomers or prepolymers possessing acrylate groups. All the data in (a–d) were collected five times and the error bars represent the standard deviation.

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