User:Ashley.delmar/sandbox

=== History of Stereolithography ===

Major edit

3D printing was first known as Rapid Prototyping and was invented with the intent of allowing engineers to create prototypes of their designs in a more time effective manner. The term “stereolithography” was coined in 1986 by Charles (Chuck) W. Hull.[1] Chuck Hull patented stereolithography as a method of creating 3D objects by successively "printing" thin layers of an object using a medium curable by ultraviolet light, starting from the bottom layer to the top layer. The technology first appeared as early as the 1970's and it was Japanese researcher, Dr. Hideo Kodama who first invented the modern layered approach to stereolithography using ultraviolet light to cure photosensitive polymers. Hull's patent described a concentrated beam of ultraviolet light focused onto the surface of a vat filled with a liquid photometer. The UV light beam is focused onto the surface of the liquid photopolymer, creating each layer of the desired 3D object by means of crosslinking (or degrading a polymer). In 1986, Hull founded the word's first 3D printing company, 3D Systems Inc,[2][3][4] which is currently based in Rock Hill, SC. More recently, attempts have been made to construct mathematical models of stereolithography processes and to design algorithms to determine whether a proposed object may be constructed using 3D printing.[5]

References:

Gibson, Ian, and Jorge Bártolo, Paulo. “History of Stereolithography.” Stereolithography: Materials, Processes, and Applications. (2011): 41-43. Web. 7 October 2015.

Jacobs, Paul F. “Introduction to Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing.” Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing: Fundamentals of Stereolithography. 1st Ed. (1992): 4-6. Web. 7 October, 2015.