Absorption effects in photopolymerized ceramic suspensions

The effects of concentration of photoinitiator and concentration of an ultraviolet-absorbing dye on the cure depth and cure width of photopolymerized ceramic suspensions were investigated. Both the cure depth and cure width have a semilogarithmic dependence on the energy dose, with the suspension characterized by the following parameters: the depth critical energy dose and depth sensitivity and width critical energy dose and width sensitivity. The values of these four parameters are highly dependent on the concentration of absorbers in the suspension. The depth sensitivities and width sensitivities are given by the absorption model, while the depth critical energy doses and width critical energy doses are given by the inhibitor exhaustion model. Furthermore, the relationship between concentration of absorbers and the broadening depth was determined. The concentration of photoinitiator did not significantly change the broadening depth, while the concentration of dye decreased the broadening depth. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.