Two-Photon Polymerization Printing with High Metal Nanoparticle Loading.

Two-photon polymerization (2PP) is an efficient technique to achieve high-resolution, three-dimensional (3D)-printed complex structures. However, it is restricted to photocurable monomer combinations, thus presenting constraints when aiming at attaining functionally active resist formulations and structures. In this context, metal nanoparticle (NP) integration as an additive can enable functionality and pave the way to more dedicated applications. Challenges lay on the maximum NP concentrations that can be incorporated into photocurable resist formulations due to the laser-triggered interactions, which primarily originate from laser scattering and absorption, as well as the limited dispersibility threshold. In this study, we propose an approach to address these two constraints by integrating metallic Rh NPs formed ex situ, purposely designed for this scope. The absence of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) within the visible and near-infrared spectra, coupled with the limited absorption value measured at the laser operating wavelength (780 nm), significantly limits the laser-induced interactions. Moreover, the dispersibility threshold is increased by engineering the NP surface to be compatible with the photocurable resin, permitting us to achieve concentrations of up to 2 wt %, which, to our knowledge, is significantly higher than the previously reported limit (or threshold) for embedded metal NPs. Another distinctive advantage of employing Rh NPs is their role as promising contrast agents for X-ray fluorescence (XRF) bioimaging. We demonstrated the presence of Rh NPs within the whole 2PP-printed structure and emphasized the potential use of NP-loaded 3D-printed nanostructures for medical devices.

Overcoming the drawbacks of plastic strain estimation based on KAM.

Plastic strain estimation using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) based on kernel average misorientation (KAM) is affected by random orientation measurement error, EBSD step length, choice of kernel and average grain size. These sensitivities complicate reproducibility of results between labs, but it is shown in this work how these drawbacks can be overcome. The modifications to KAM were verified against a similar misorientation metric based on grain orientation spread (GOS), which does not show sensitivity to these factors. Both metrics were used in parallel to estimate the plastic strain distribution in Alloy 690 heat affected zones from component mockups, and showed the same results where the grain size was correctly compensated for.