Known also as resin printing or SLA is at the moment one of two leading methods of 3D printing. However, often is overlooked by classical (FDM) printing due to the greater development potential.
How does it work?
The most visible and obvious element is the liquid container usually filled with polymers from which products are made. That said main part is located at the base of the printer – lasers. By focusing a few different laser beams with galvanometers at the polymer it is possible to selectively change resin from liquid to solid state and by repetitively lowering the platform (commonly located at the upper part of the machine) structures can be built from upside down.
Qualities
Building models from many consecutive layers (less than 1 millimetre thick) offers high quality and is comparable to FDM’s faster time of building. There is also a wide range of materials for different types of professions to work with. There are polymers developed specifically for dentists, engineers, designers and even jewellers each with distinct properties suited for the needed job.
Future development
Thinking about the future of 3D printing we usually see houses made in days or fashionable clothes created from flexible materials printed in our homes. However, what if we add to this vision high-resolution tools made in minutes, models not shown on slides but in the real world? Perhaps it will be used for printing food whenever we want without any wasted products? Right now some printers can use gelatin or other biomaterial resins to print complex structures.
References:
https://www.hubs.com/knowledge-base/what-is-sla-3d-printing/
This is a significant breakthrough for 3D printing. I thought before that the industry plateaued and we were not gonna see anything beneficial. I was wrong.