| Summary: | Nanosilica additives have been extensively studied and it has been shown to improve the properties of polymeric materials to a considerable extent. However, not much research has been done to study the effects of nanosilica additives on the Stereolithography (SLA)/ Digital Light Processing (DLP) printing resins. This report is aimed at studying the effects of different nanosilica additives on the SLA/DLP printing processes, as well as the characterization of the specimens printed from the resin systems modified with different types of nanosilica additives. The initial stage of the study was focused on the screening and evaluation of various monomers to act as a carrier for the nanosilica by visual inspection and rheology. The subsequent stages were then steered towards the curing characteristics of the various modified resins and characterization of printed specimens using thermogravimetric analysis, hardness and tensile testing. HEMA was selected as the carrier in this study as it exhibited high loading capacities of the various nanosilicas. It was also found that while the mechanical properties have been improved generally with the addition of nanosilica, the exposure time for proper curing of layers have also increased due to the interference of the nanosilica additives with the reactants in the base resins. The report concludes with a discussion on the performance of the various modified resin systems.
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