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The growing accumulation of plastic waste is a significant global concern, with approximately 359 million metric
tons produced each year. Much of this plastic ends up in landfills and oceans, causing severe environmental
damage and threatening wildlife. In response, researchers are increasingly exploring ways to reuse plastic
waste, turning it into new products and thereby reducing its environmental impact.
The 3D printing market is one of the major sectors that can utilize a wide range of thermoplastic polymers.
Additive manufacturing (AM) has provided an effective solution for using recycled materials, offering efficient
methods for designing and fabricating a variety of products while minimizing environmental impact. Among
various AM processes, 3D printing of smart materials has gained significant attention due to its ability to add
new functionalities to products, especially through 4D printing. This technology enables printed objects to
change shape in response to external stimuli, making it valuable for applications in areas such as soft robotics,
aerospace, and medical devices. The fused filament fabrication (FFF) technique is particularly popular in this
context, as it is both user-friendly and cost-effective, making it accessible for small-scale production.
The reSHAPE project aimed to develop a novel smart filament with shape-recovery properties from recycled
materials. Key objectives included optimizing extrusion and 3D printing processes and investigating the
thermo-mechanical and shape-recovery properties. Lastly, the project collaborated with industry partners like
3D4Makers B.V. and 3Devo B.V. to produce functional, sustainable filaments for advanced applications.
Nowadays, there is particular attention towards the recycling of waste materials which is a critical issue for environmental protection and waste management. Polymer materials have numerous applications in daily life products. As a result, plastic pollution has become one of the biggest threats to nature, therefore recycling or replacing them with bio-based materials can significantly help the ecosystems. So far, many studies have investigated the possibility of reusing plastic waste, as a second life, to obtain consumable products. The 3D printing market is one of the great sectors that can utilize a wide range of thermoplastic polymers. This technology provides a unique capability to produce complex shape structures and products that cannot be produced by other manufacturing processes. In particular, Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is a common printing technology that consumes thermoplastic filaments including recycled materials. This printing technique has been also very successful in using novel high-performance materials with sustainable aspects.
The reSHAPE project aims to develop novel smart filaments, with shape memory properties, from recycled materials. The filaments can be applied for the design and fabrication of smart products with dynamic behavior. In particular, the fabricated parts can shift from a plastic-deformed shape into a recovered original shape when being triggered by an external stimulus, like temperature. For that, we will specifically apply recycled polylactic acid (PLA) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) as the main materials in this study. Because they both have proper shape memory properties and also TPU can potentially enhance the material flexibility which is required in the design and fabrication of functional components. As a result, this study will obtain a proper combination of these materials with good printability and functionality that can be used for a wide range of products from the aerospace and automotive sectors to soft robotics and medical devices.