© 2024 SURF
About half of the polymeric materials used for polymer-based 3D printing are cross-linked photopolymers (thermosets) that are made from fossil raw materials and are not recyclable, repairable or reprocessable. Given the growth of the 3D printing market combined with societal concerns surrounding plastic waste, there is an increasing demand from the field for sustainable, circular 3D printing materials.
This project, building on "GOCH.KIEM.KGC02.022", will work on the sustainability of thermoset polymers for 3D printing. Different aspects of sustainability will be addressed along the entire value chain:
- Biomass as feedstock: e.g. CO2, lignin or fatty acid-based raw materials (Cargill).
- Sustainable, safe and scalable flow chemistry processes for the synthesis of the biobased building blocks (ZUYD, HANZE, Chemtrix).
- Design of thermoset photopolymers with dynamic bonds (vitrimers), e.g. polymethacrylates with imine (UM) and ester bonds (RUG). Dynamic bonds in vitrimers, under the influence of a stimulus such as temperature, can give rise to a material that is processable like a thermoplastic, opening the way to recycling, repair or reprocessing of thermosets.
- Circularity of materials in 3D printing processes: the developed building blocks will be used for 3D printing prototypes, characterized by a short lifespan, via stereolithography (NHLS, Liqcreate). These prototypes will then be recycled into monofilaments/granulates for extrusion-based 3D printing (FDM) (NHLS, Ultimaker, CHILL).
The market potential of the reprinted materials will be explored by our network partners (Binder3D, CHILL) who search the best applications. Additional project partners will be attracted to show via demonstrators that different 3D printing processes can be successfully completed with the same material. The materials developed in this project thus offer the field a practical solution to the sustainability challenges associated with the rapid market growth of 3D printed materials.