Nanoscale roughness to mitigate polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sticking in liquid crystal display (LCD) vat photopolymerization (VPP): Separation force reduction without losing resolution

Liquid crystal display (LCD) vat photopolymerization (VPP) is gaining attention among polymer-based additive manufacturing (AM) processes due to its high accuracy, superior surface finish, and cost-efficiency. However, one of the main challenges is the high layer separation force, which is heavily influenced by the flexibility of the interface. Sticking between polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and the LCD panel reduces flexibility, shifting the separation behavior from Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) to Derjaguin-Muller-Toporov (DMT)-like behavior. This study presents a novel approach to mitigate PDMS sticking by introducing nanoscale surface roughness. Sandblasted sheet metals with varying sand mesh sizes were used as molds to create interfaces with different roughness levels. The findings reveal that a surface roughness of 0.262µm significantly reduces PDMS sticking, making the interface more flexible. The optimized flexible interface (SP 2000) interface reduced the separation force 50-fold compared to unmodified PDMS while maintaining high print resolution. Case studies involving rigid and flexible photopolymer resins further emphasize the effectiveness of the SP 2000 interface in addressing PDMS sticking issues. This research highlights the critical role of interface flexibility and presents a promising solution for improving LCD VPP performance.