Post-Cure Process Engineering for Vat-Photopolymerised Parts: Dose Delivery, Chamber Geometry, Shadowing, Atmosphere and Thermal Coupling

Post-curing is often specified as a time and temperature in a named chamber. That description is insufficient for engineering qualification. The printed part does not experience a nominal recipe. It experiences a spatially and temporally varying radiation field, a temperature history and an atmosphere, all filtered by the part geometry, optical state, orientation, loading arrangement and material response. ER-181 treats post-cure as a second manufacturing process rather than a finishing checkbox. It separates commanded settings from delivered dose, chamber capability from part exposure, surface state from through-thickness state, and useful network development from dimensional or appearance penalties. The objective is not to identify one universal post-cure cycle. It is to define the evidence needed to show that a specified part, resin, load arrangement and chamber process reach the intended final state with controlled variation.