3D printing of conical insulating spacer using alumina /UV-cured-resin composite

Abstract

3D printing is a process of joining materials, usually layer upon layer, to make objects from 3D model data. It has a potential to provide various prototypes of solid insulator and the insulators with gradient material e.g. functionally graded material. This paper investigates the feasibility of 3D printing of a conical insulating spacer with using alumina/UV-cured-resin composite material. The light transmission characteristics of the composite material revealed that UV was transmitted through the composite system although the amount of micrometric alumina fillers was 40 vol%. It provides the evidence that the alumina composite is cured by UV. The permittivity characteristics of the composites was confirmed to be according to the formulas for permittivity of two media. Furthermore, 3D model data of the conical insulating spacer was designed by FEM software and printed out by the stereolithographic 3D printer. Finally, we confirmed the 3D printer could produce a prototype of the conical insulating spacer using the alumina/UV-cured-resin composite.