Determining the Complex Young’s Modulus of Polymer Materials Fabricated with Microstereolithography

Abstract

Microstereolithography is capable of producing millimeter-scale polymer parts having micron-scale features. Material properties of the cured polymers can vary depending on build parameters such as exposure time and laser power. Current techniques for determining the material properties of these polymers are limited to static measurements via micro/nanoindentation, leaving the dynamic response undetermined. Frequency-dependent material parameters, such as the complex Young’s modulus, have been determined for other relaxing materials by measuring the wave speed and attenuation of an ultrasonic pulse traveling through the materials. This method is now applied to determine the frequency-dependent material parameters of polymers manufactured using microstereolithography. Because the ultrasonic wavelength is comparable to the part size, a model that accounts for both geometric and viscoelastic effects is used to determine the material properties using experimental data.Mechanical Engineerin