Started only a few shorts days ago, the UEF’s Institute of Phototonics has hit the ground running, grabbing its first large industrial partnership within a week of its opening. It’s partnership with optical rapid prototyping firm LUXeXceL will leverage the company’s Printoptical Technology, a method for printing optical quality components that don’t require post processing.
According to LUXeXceL their Printoptical systems uses a modified wide format industrial printer to deposit droplets of a UV-curable polymer onto the print surface. Once deposited a UV-lamp mounted inside the print head immediately cures the polymer.
Over the course of the next 18 months, researchers at the UEF and LUXeXceL will work together to further refine LUXeXceL’s design for optical-quality 3D printers. If successful, this partnership could make photonic research significantly less expensive by allowing lenses and complex free-form optical surfaces to be produced in a cheaper, easier manner.
According to Professor Jyrki Saarinen, Responsible Project Leader at UEF, "3D printing is becoming an important manufacturing method for small batches and single items. It is a revolution as regards component availability, development and manufacturing speed, and the concept of customization". To that point Saarinen adds, “Although Finland hasn't been a pioneer in 3D printing, this project will bring Finnish photonics 3D printing to world-leading level”.
Images Courtesy of LUXeXceL