Toughening epoxy acrylate with polyurethane acrylates and hyper-branched polyester in three dimensional printing

In order to improve the toughness of epoxy acrylate (EA) in three dimensional printing (3D-printing), bifunctional polyurethane acrylate (PUA) and trifunctional PUA were firstly blended with EA. The multi-indicators orthogonal experiment, designed with the indicators of tensile strength, elongation at break and impact strength, was used to find out the optimal formulation. Then, hyper-branched polyesters (HBPs) was added to improve the toughness of the photocurable system. The microstructures of the cured specimens were characterized by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. By analyzing their mechanical properties and microstructures, it was revealed that the best addition amounts of HBP are 10 wt%. Results indicated that their toughness improved a lot comparing with pure EA. The changes of mechanical properties were characterized by DMA. The addition of HBP could cause a loss in stiffness, elasticity modulus and thermostability.