Fast Hydrolytically Degradable 3D Printed Object Based on Aliphatic Polycarbonate Thiol‐Yne Photoresins

Abstract

Abstract Like the thiol‐ene addition reaction, the thiol‐yne addition reaction can be initiated thermally and photochemically. The latter route therefore can be utilized for vat photopolymerization‐based additive manufacturing (AM). In this work, the following is reported (1) the synthesis of an aliphatic polycarbonate oligomer with a pendant alkyne functional group as a hydrolytically degradable “yne” component; (2) a new thiol‐yne photoresin formulation that has been applied in digital light processing (DLP) 405nm 3D printing to print objects with high resolution (50 µm layer thickness); and (3) the successful demonstration of fast hydrolytic degradation of a 3D printed object in aqueous alkaline solution. Therefore, the incorporation of an aliphatic polycarbonate alkyne component and ester thiols in the photoresin formulation is effective for imparting the ability to do fast hydrolytic degradation of 3D printed objects.