– This is a breakthrough for the Swedish forest products can be used in the future. We will for example be able to print clothes in cellulose with built-in features, says Paul Gatenholm, Professor of Biopolymer Technology.
In a regular 3D printers melted material when formed into an object, layer by layer. But pure cellulose does not melt and therefore can not be printed with conventional 3D technology. Chalmers researchers have instead used a so-called 3D-bioskrivare.
As the ink used a gel in which very small fibers – fibrils – cellulose bound together by water. The objects are built up in layers of approximately 0.1 millimeters. Scientists have for example tested to print a small chair. The print job took about fifteen minutes.
The problem is that the printed objects consist of 95-99 per cent water.
– We solve that by freeze so we get a foam, said Paul Gatenholm and adds that it is possible to influence the material properties during the process by controlling the orientation of the fibers. It is also possible to manufacture thin films.
By adding carbon nanotubes can also receive material electrically conductive. Carbon nanotubes are printed using the second nozzle available on 3D bioskrivaren, while nano-cellulose are printed.
The research has taken place in Wallenberg Wood Science Center and presented this week at the conference “New materials from trees” in Stockholm.
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