In recent years, 2.5-dimentional (2.5D) fabrication for reproduction of oil paintings and decoration becomes known. UV curable ink is used for fabrication of 2.5D images because of its good stackability. However, the surface of the structures fabricated by UV curable inkjet printer is granular. Shape accuracy and surface smoothness had a trade-off relation. Therefore, we developed UV curable ink which can control wet-spreadability of the cured ink surface. Then we can switch between both stacking processes for accuracy and smoothness. The cured states and the wet-spreadability are controlled by UV irradiation energy for curing. This technology makes it possible to express the precise profile with shape accuracy and surface smoothness.
Manabu Arita, Mie Yoshino, Shinichi Hatanaka, Toshihito Kamei, "2.5-Dimensional Inkjet Fabrication Using UV Curable Ink" in Proc. IS&T Printing for Fabrication: Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies (NIP33), 2017, pp 175 - 180, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2017.33.175