Importance

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Abstract

The three dimensional configuration of an article is generated from a plurality of sheets of polymer material having a base resin constituent, a reactive diluent constituent and a reaction modifying constituent which effects a latent change in chemical reactivity of the polymer material in an area of each sheet imaged with actinic radiation in the configuration of an incremental heighth of the article, successive sheets are exposed to actinic radiation corresponding to the configuration of successive incremental planar heighths of the article and are stacked in a matrix. The imaged areas of all sheets are thereafter simultaneously cured with heat or aging, the configuration of the article is separated from the remainder of the matrix by altering the dimensional stability of the uncured polymer material. The sheets may be initially positioned on a carrier web for transport through an apparatus for constructing the shape of an article. The apparatus includes an imaging station wherein successive sheets are exposed to actinic radiation and a stacking station wherein exposed sheets are stripped from the carrier web and placed in a stack to form the matrix.

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First Claim