Question: How exactly does 3D printing work?

Ciara Buckley answered on 8 Nov 2022:

Great question! To 3D print, you need a base polymer. This can be bought from a shop or you can use your own, in my case, I use a carbohydrate called hyaluronic acid. I then mix my polymer with a photoinitiator- this is a compound that when exposed to light (photo) can cure (or harden!) your polymer. So in a 3D printer, the machine deposits small amounts of my polymer and photoiniator onto a platform and a UV light laser cures (hardens) each layer individually as it is deposited. By doing this layer by layer, we can make many shapes and structures- this is even used to produce false teeth!