photopolymer

noun

pho·​to·​poly·​mer ˌfō-tō-ˈpä-lə-mər 

1

: a light-sensitive material that undergoes chemical and physical property changes when exposed to light (as UV or visible)

Aided by a computer design, a 3D printer uses laser technology to build a three-dimensional object from a liquid photopolymer.

—Carl Wilson

2

: a light-sensitive polymer used especially in the manufacture of printing plates

… a photopolymer is used instead of metal to transfer ink from rollers.

—Ken Cleveland

—often used before another noun

photopolymer printing plates

Examples of photopolymer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Perhaps because the photopolymer plate printing used to make it was already elaborated on in the best-selling 1993 novel The Club Dumas and its 1999 knockoff film adaptation, The Ninth Gate). — Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 8 June 2026

The process involves using a laser to scan the screen for tiny flaws, then filling them with photopolymer to smooth them over. — Eric Zeman, PC Magazine, 17 Mar. 2026

Flexibility in locating the projector, relieving cab design constraints Lower costs for integration and repair The idea of holographic displays germinated with development of photopolymers at Bell Laboratories in 1990, for data storage. — Sabbir Rangwala, Forbes.com, 17 Mar. 2026

The resins are photopolymers that are cured by ultraviolet light-emitting diodes after each layer is printed. — Phillip W. Barth, IEEE Spectrum, 25 Mar. 2024

To start, a chamber of liquid photopolymer plastic is heated, and a build plate rises from the plastic as an ultraviolet laser scans mirrors to produce each thin layer. — WIRED, 28 Aug. 2022

An engineer named Chuck Hull pioneered the first 3D printer in 1983, making trinkets out of photopolymer that eventually led him to patent the process a year later. — Jennifer Walter, Discover Magazine, 5 Sep. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1932, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for photopolymer

• biopolymer
• homopolymer
• copolymer
• polymer