Vat Photopolymerization Materials Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- Filings peaked in 2022 at 52 families and have declined since, suggesting the core resin chemistry claim space is settling rather than still expanding.
- B33Y and B29C dominate the IPC mix (245 and 219 records) while dentistry-specific filings under A61C sit at just 47 — a much narrower, more contestable slice.
- Co-assignee filing is rare — only two pairs above a single joint filing with the strongest link a university-industry pair (9 shared families), meaning most claim territory is staked out solo.
What this landscape covers
Vat photopolymerization covers stereolithography and digital light processing printing where a liquid photocurable resin is selectively hardened layer by layer. This dataset tracks 275 patent families filed between 2017 and 2026 that combine vat photopolymerization process claims with material composition claims — photocurable resins, ceramic-filled resins and tough photopolymer formulations classified under C08F2/48, B29C64/124 and B33Y70.
The technology composition shows the field is still primarily a materials-for-3D-printing story: additive manufacturing (B33Y) and plastics shaping (B29C) subclasses cover the large majority of records, with dentistry, medicinal preparation and polymer-additive subclasses forming smaller but distinct clusters where formulation claims get more specific.
Filing trend and technology mix
Publication counts for the most recent year are always understated because filing precedes publication by roughly 18 months — treat the 2026 figure as a floor, not a ceiling.
A decade of growth followed by a plateau
Annual filings rose from 16 in 2017 to a peak of 52 in 2022, then declined through to 2 in 2026 (a partial year). The flat-to-declining shape after the midpoint suggests the core chemistry space — photoinitiators, oligomer backbones, viscosity modifiers — is now largely staked out, with new activity more likely to appear in adjacent applications than in core resin claims.
Where the claims concentrate
B33Y and B29C together account for the bulk of records, confirming this is fundamentally a 3D-printing-process-plus-material dataset. C08F (addition polymers) at 94 records is the largest pure-chemistry subclass, while A61C (dentistry) at 47 and A61K (medicinal preparations) at 39 mark the clearest application-specific pockets, each smaller and more open than the core.
Shares are the percentage of the 275 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Vat Photopolymerization Advanced Materials with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about vat photopolymerization advanced materials and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
US20240076420A1 — Photocurable resin composition and three-dimensional stereolithography product
A photocurable resin composition built around a reactive compound and a photopolymerization initiator, where the cured product has two distinct glass transition points — one below 25°C and one at or above it. Elongation at break under ASTM D638 reaches 130% or more, with breaking strength of 3 MPa or more, targeting toughness properties that pure single-Tg photopolymers struggle to match.Filed by Nagase Chemtex Corporation, published 2024-03-07.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WO2018105463A1 | Photocurable resin composition for optical stereolithography | 45 |
| 2 | KR1020170010299A | Low viscosity oligomer, and resin composition for stereolithography apparatus 3D printing comprising the same | 35 |
| 3 | US9975295B2 | Acceleration of stereolithography | 22 |
| 4 | CN107073816A | 立体光固化造型方法和组合物 | 20 |
| 5 | JP2001026609A | Resin composition for optical stereolithography | 20 |
| 6 | US20210162657A1 | High-temperature stereolithography apparatus and methods of use thereof | 19 |
| 7 | US5929130A | Photocurable resin compositions for plastic molds | 16 |
| 8 | US20210155722A1 | Methods and compositions for photopolymerizable additive manufacturing | 14 |
| 9 | EP3597668A1 | Photo-curable resin composition for 3D printing | 13 |
| 10 | EP3597669A1 | Photo-curable resin composition for 3D printing | 12 |
Citation counts favour older filings that have had more time to accumulate references within the searched corpus — read them as a signal of past influence, not current relevance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once families, IPC composition and citation counts are read together.
Growth has already crested
Filings climbed from 16 in 2017 to a peak of 52 in 2022 and have fallen every year since. A plateau this pronounced after a clear peak points to a core chemistry that is well mapped, with remaining novelty concentrated in narrower application claims rather than base resin formulations.
Dentistry is a much smaller, sharper cluster
Against 245 B33Y and 219 B29C records covering general additive-manufacturing materials, the 47 A61C dentistry filings and 39 A61K medicinal-preparation filings are a fraction of the size. Smaller clusters here mean less prior art density per claim and more room to differentiate on formulation specifics.
Almost nobody files jointly
Only two co-assignee pairs in the dataset show more than a single shared filing, and the strongest pair links an industrial resin company with a university at 9 shared families. Nearly all other filers hold their claims solo, which for a new entrant means fewer existing joint-venture blocks to negotiate around.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to vat photopolymerization advanced materials, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| Allnex Belgium SA | Ghent University | 9 |
| 3D Systems, Inc. | Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC | 4 |
The strongest documented collaboration pairs an industrial coatings-resin filer with a university research group at 9 shared families — a pattern worth checking before assuming any single assignee holds a technology outright.
Assignees and where their momentum has gone
Recent-year momentum figures show a field where even active historical filers have gone quiet in the latest tracked year, which is consistent with the post-2022 decline in overall filing volume rather than any single company's retreat.
US and EPO dominate the filing geography
United States filings lead at 95, followed by the European Patent Office at 74 and WIPO/PCT at 38. Canada, Israel and Japan each sit in the low tens, meaning enforcement and freedom-to-operate checks concentrate heavily on US and European jurisdictions first.
Multiple historical filers show zero recent activity
Several assignees that were active earlier in the dataset — spanning 3D printing, dental and specialty polymer companies — show no filings in the latest tracked year, one with a documented -100% year-over-year change. That is consistent with the overall post-2022 plateau rather than evidence any one of them has exited the field.
Joint filing is the exception, not the rule
With only two co-assignee pairs showing more than one shared filing across 275 families, most competitive positions in this space were built through solo filing. A university-industry pairing forms the strongest link at 9 shared families, ahead of an industrial pairing at 4.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| 3D Systems, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Kuraray Noritake Dental Inc. | 0 | — |
| Tokuyama Dental Corporation | 0 | — |
| Dentsply Sirona Inc. | 0 | — |
| DWS S.r.l. | 0 | — |
| Planmeca Oy | 0 | — |
| Polymed Corporation | 0 | — |
| Rogers Corporation | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific follow-up questions rather than a single conclusion.
Check freedom-to-operate in dentistry formulations
The A61C cluster is small relative to the core additive-manufacturing subclasses, but that also means fewer blocking claims to search through before committing to a dental-specific resin formulation.
Explore dental resin claimsWatch for a rebound in filing volume
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the drop shown for 2025-2026 could partly reverse as later filings publish. Re-check the trend after the next data refresh before concluding the field has genuinely cooled.
Track filing trend updatesMap the university-industry collaboration model
The strongest co-assignee pair in this dataset links an industrial resin filer with a university at 9 shared families — a structure worth examining for anyone considering a research partnership route into this space.
Review collaboration patternsCommon questions about vat photopolymerization material patents
Vat photopolymerization is a 3D printing process family that includes stereolithography (SLA) and digital light processing (DLP) printing, where a vat of liquid photocurable resin is selectively hardened by light, layer by layer, to build a solid part. The technology depends as much on the resin chemistry as on the printer hardware, which is why patent filings in this space combine process claims with material composition claims. This dataset tracks 275 patent families filed between 2017 and 2026 that sit at that intersection.
Filing activity in this dataset spans industrial resin manufacturers, dental equipment companies, 3D printing hardware makers and university research groups, with most parties filing solo rather than jointly. Only two co-assignee pairs show more than a single shared filing, and several historically active assignees show no filings in the most recent tracked year — a pattern that lines up with the overall plateau in filing volume after 2022 rather than a single company's exit. Checking the assignee ranking table directly is the most reliable way to see current standing, since momentum is shifting.
Filings rose from 16 in 2017 to a peak of 52 in 2022, then declined in each subsequent year, but part of that decline is a publication artefact: patent applications typically publish around 18 months after filing, so the most recent one to two years in any trend chart are understated. That said, a plateau this size after such a clear peak also suggests the core resin chemistry — photoinitiator packages, oligomer backbones, viscosity modifiers — has been substantially claimed, pushing new novelty toward narrower applications like dental and ceramic-filled formulations.
The most-cited records in this space combine specific formulation parameters — viscosity ranges, glass transition temperatures, mechanical properties measured against standards like ASTM D638 — with the vat photopolymerization process itself, rather than claiming either alone. The representative filing in this dataset, for example, claims a resin with two distinct glass transition points and specific elongation-at-break and breaking-strength thresholds, which narrows the claim to a measurable material outcome rather than a broad chemistry class. Claims tied to precise, testable properties tend to be harder to design around than claims over a general resin category.
Based on the IPC composition, the core additive-manufacturing and plastics-shaping subclasses (B33Y and B29C) are heavily filed, while dentistry-specific (A61C), medicinal-preparation (A61K) and polymer-additive (C08K) clusters are each a fraction of that size. Smaller clusters generally mean fewer blocking claims per unit of technical space, making dual-Tg toughening formulations, dental-specific photoinitiator packages and ceramic-filled resin viscosity control worth a closer freedom-to-operate look before assuming the space is crowded. This is a starting hypothesis from filing density, not a substitute for a full clearance search.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.