The publication Plastics Today says the Tel Aviv-based startup Nanofabrica has developed an additive manufacturing (AM) system that provides an ‘end to end’ bespoke process for manufacturers seeking micron and sub-micron levels of resolution and surface finish.

Nanofabrica (www.nano-fabrica.com) CEO Jon Donner says that to date, developers have struggled to achieve a resolution of less than 50µm, “and the few micro-manufacturing AM technologies that exist are either extremely costly in terms of machine and per-part costs, extremely slow, or have rigid size limitations.

“Nanofabrica’s AM process is based on digital light processing (DLP), which is combined with adaptive optics to achieve repeatable micron levels of resolution.

“This tool, in conjunction with an array of sensors, allows for a closed feedback loop, enabling high accuracy while remaining a cost-effective manufacturing process.

“Adaptive optics have been used in other areas, but this is the first time that they have been applied to AM technology.”

Nanofabrica’s AM platform also achieves micron-level resolution over ‘centimetre-size’ parts by combining adaptive optics with technology from the semiconductor industry, where precise micron and sub-micron level resolutions are routinely achieved.

By working at the intersection of semiconductors and AM, Nanofabrica can build large parts with intricate micro details — and do so up to 100-times faster than other micro AM platforms through the use of a multi-resolution strategy.

“Parts requiring fine details are printed relatively slowly, but printing is faster in areas of the part where such detail is not required. This is achieved by a combination of hardware that optimises the relation between speed and resolution, and software that breaks the part and printing path into low- and high-resolution areas.”

Nanofabrica says thousands of parts can be printed in a single build on its platform, allowing mass manufacturing; the company says it has also developed proprietary materials based on the most commonly used polymers.