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Cited by 398Polymer composites and self-healingPhotopolymerization techniques and applicationsAdditive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technologies

Reprocessable thermosets for sustainable three-dimensional printing

Open access
Zhang, Biao, Kowsari, Kavin, Serjouei, Ahmad, Dunn, Martin L., Ge, Qi·2018·Nature Communications
DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-04292-8PMC PMC5940800
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Abstract

Among all three-dimensional (3D) printing materials, thermosetting photopolymers claim almost half of the market, and have been widely used in various fields owing to their superior mechanical stability at high temperatures, excellent chemical resistance as well as good compatibility with high-resolution 3D printing technologies. However, once these thermosetting photopolymers form 3D parts through photopolymerization, the covalent networks are permanent and cannot be reprocessed, i.e., reshaped, repaired, or recycled. Here, we report a two-step polymerization strategy to develop 3D printing reprocessable thermosets (3DPRTs) that allow users to reform a printed 3D structure into a new arbitrary shape, repair a broken part by simply 3D printing new material on the damaged site, and recycle unwanted printed parts so the material can be reused for other applications. These 3DPRTs provide a practical solution to address environmental challenges associated with the rapid increase in consumption of 3D printing materials.

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  • Two-stage polymerization typically leads to higher crosslinking densities, without significant other changes.

    “two-stage polymerization typically leads to higher crosslinking densities, without significant other changes.”

    From On demand shape memory polymer via light regulated topological defects in a dynamic covalent network (2020) · cites this paper as [39]

    The Introduction says crosslinking density increases during the second, heat-triggered stage. But the Results section on reshapability reports substantial other changes: a higher glass-transition temperature and an increase in room-temperature Young’s modulus from 7.4 to about 900 MPa. The paper describes its particular two-stage process, not what two-stage polymerization typically does. (LLM, conf=0.90)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Zhang, B., Kowsari, K., Serjouei, A., Dunn, M. L., & Ge, Q.
Affiliations
Singapore University of Technology and Design (SG)
Corresponding author
  • Dunn, Martin L.
  • Ge, Qi
ORCID
Venue
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2018-05-08
Volume
9
Issue
1
Pages
1831-1831
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41467-018-04292-8
PMC
PMC5940800
OpenAlex
W2800511327
Cited by
398
References
4
Citations by year
2026: 25 · 2025: 53 · 2024: 53 · 2023: 55 · 2022: 59 · 2021: 53 · 2020: 60 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 9
FWCI
19.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Nottingham Trent University's Institutional Repository (Nottingham Trent Repository) (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Georgia Institute of Technology
  • National Research Foundation
  • Agency for Science, Technology and Research (1521200086)
  • National Research Foundation Singapore (1521200086)
  • Singapore University of Technology and Design (1521200086)
  • Digital Manufacturing and Design Centre, Singapore University of Technology and Design (1521200086)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer composites and self-healing
  • Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Photopolymerization techniques and applications
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Technologies
Keywords
3D printing materials, two-step polymerization, waste reduction

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