A recent study suggests a bio-based UV resin may be effective as a recyclable material for resin 3D printing.
Conducted and written by a team of nine Chinese researchers — Yun Hu, Yan Dai, Guoqiang Zhu, Yufeng Ma, Liang Yuan, Shanyuan Tong, Lihong Hu, Puyou Jia, and Yonghong Zhou – the study focuses on tartaric acid-glycidyl methacrylate (TAGM), which can be synthesized from renewable resources, particularly grapes. Its tartaric acid precursor can also be found naturally in many other fruits.
The research team’s corresponding editor couldn’t be reached, but All3DP’s own expert in material science and chemistry, Renee Timmins, MSc, PhD, reviewed the study and weighed in.
“The chemistries that typically make resins are derived from petrochemicals, so reducing our consumption of this in favor of alternative renewable resources is a big deal,” she said. “This is similar to the shift from ABS to PLA in FDM printing. Where ABS is only derived from petrochemicals, PLA precursors can be derived from sources like sugarcane and corn.”
The study does not claim that TAGM is biodegradable – an important distinction from recyclable. Instead, the authors say, cured TAGM can be reformed and reused. This is still a significant step forward. Recycling cured resin has long been a challenge in manufacturing, as cured resin – unlike thermoplastics – will not melt, only decompose and burn.
To reprocess TAGM, the cured resin is ground into a powder, which is then collected and reformed into a sheet using a hot press. Because TAGM’s chemistry has strong intermolecular interactions – meaning that it is very attracted to itself – as well as unused crosslinking points in its structure, the heat helps it form new bonds.
“While the procedure for reforming the sheet – 180°C for two hours – is not quite practical and the performance of the reformed material is unclear, the initial results are an exciting first step toward giving our used resin material a new life,” Timmins said.
While brittle, TAGM exhibits a fair degree degrees of toughness, as well as a high glass transition temperature and decent mechanical strength, meaning it has potential as an ABS-like resin. It could also mark the starting point for other, similar resins that could serve to make 3D printing more sustainable.
“We’ve come a long way in the past 10 years in terms of developing resin formulations with a wide range of properties, from supremely tough to soft and bendy,” Timmins said. “‘Green’ resins are just at the beginning, so I’m sure we’ll see the mechanical range of these materials become more comprehensive in the coming years.”
To read the full study on TAGM, you can download it on ScienceDirect.
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License: The text of "This Resin May Be the Next Step Forward for ‘Green’ 3D Printing" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.