Modeling of Photopolymerizable Droplets for Voxel-Based 3D Printing

  • Rouf, Saquib (ICB CO2M, 6303 CNRS, UTBM)

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This work presents a numerical framework for modeling UV-induced droplet polymerization, leading to the formation of a core-shell structure depending upon the light distribution within the droplet. An Eulerian volume-of-fluid approach coupled with species transport is employed to estimate the degree of polymerization and to predict the resulting core-shell configuration. The study examines the effects of UV intensity and exposure time on droplet polymerization, which are critical parameters for the voxel-based 3D/4D printing. The novelty of this work lies in the incorporation of cure-induced viscoelastic effects within the polymerized shell, modeled using the Oldroyd-B-type constitutive formulation, and in the analysis of their influence on droplet spreading and recoil through the Weissenberg and Reynold numbers. Using this approach, we systematically quantify how cure-dependent viscoelasticity governs droplet-substrate interaction for micron-scale droplets across a range of shell thicknesses, degrees of cure, and impact velocities. The results enable prediction on how variations in UV exposure conditions modify droplet-substrate interaction, therefore improving the reliabiity of droplet-based 3D printing for uniform, complex, and multi-material designs.