“After we 3-D print, we restore the hydrogen bonding network through a sodium hydroxide treatment,” Pattinson says. “We find that the strength and toughness of the parts we get … are greater than many commonly used materials” for 3-D printing, including acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polylactic acid (PLA).
If you scale it up you could 3d print houses from Cellulose.
Since 3d printing is inexpensive and the material abundant you can 3d print an outer isolation layer of a honey comb structure, bio inspired from bees. If the outer isolation layer becomes degraded from years of contact with wind and rain you can simply print a new one.
Is 3d printing really the most efficient way to make such a structure? Could you not pack straws together and then squish them? Could you not make a corrugated sheets like cardboard?
Honestly, cellulose is one of the least desired materials I'd want my house made of. After all the additives needed for making it good enough, it will be some kind of ceramic already, so why not start there?
We can already 3D print concrete. Centralized manufacturing still beats that all hands off... And people still insist on manually assembling bricks for a lot of reasons.
This is fantastic. If the properties and aesthetics are good, I can see a lot of demand driving the filament manufacturers to adopt this material. Paste-like extruders for open-source machines exist on the market today for chocolate and clay.
Only concern for me is it sounds like post-processing is required.
> As the acetone quickly evaporates, the cellulose acetate solidifies in place. A subsequent optional treatment replaces the acetate groups and increases the strength of the printed parts.
I've been researching thermoforming polymer materials for the last few weeks, and there is a well established category of materials known as PLA.
Polylactides (PLA) or polylactic acids represent a relatively new group of thermoplastics for packaging applications obtained from renewable resources. In extensive tests the functional and thermoforming properties of PLA are compared with those of other polymers. They are a biodegradable/compostable polyester manufactured from plant based resources. At 60°C and relative air humidity of 80% PLA will degrade completely after 60 days.
PLA's properties make it suitable for various thermoforming applications, particularly cups for cold bevarages and trays for fruit and vegetables. To produce high-molecular PLA, a process is used that is sustainable, solvent-free, and environmentally friendly.
PLA can be obtained from cassava, corn, maize, sugar beet, sugar cane, wheat, or agricultural byproducts containing natural plant sugars.
Although PLA has been known for more than a century, it has only been of commercial interest in recent years, in light of its biodegradability.
While PLA is one of the most promising bio-basedplastics, its main disadvantages are high price and unsatisfactory mechanical properties.
My understanding is that thermoforming is however only really utilized for sheet-based PLA material with essentially non-convex configurations. Also, it tends to degrade over 60 degrees celsius.
I wonder how this process and its output differs step-wise, limitation wise, and in terms of resulting material's mechanical properties. From the sounds of it, it's essentially a layering process and too early to judge limitations, though a small temperature range could perhaps be expected.
maybe I'm missing something, but PLA is just 3d printer filament. There's only two plastics commonly used for extruder-style 3d printers, and they're ABS and PLA.
Most similar to cellophane or celluloid foil used for making film substrate. Except thick. Try gluing many layers of film together, see how resilient it is.
[+] [-] Tepix|9 years ago|reply
“After we 3-D print, we restore the hydrogen bonding network through a sodium hydroxide treatment,” Pattinson says. “We find that the strength and toughness of the parts we get … are greater than many commonly used materials” for 3-D printing, including acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polylactic acid (PLA).
[+] [-] robert_foss|9 years ago|reply
How do thick-walled materials have their hydrogen bonds restored? This process seems rather more involved than regular 3D printing.
[+] [-] acd|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adrianratnapala|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] marcosdumay|9 years ago|reply
We can already 3D print concrete. Centralized manufacturing still beats that all hands off... And people still insist on manually assembling bricks for a lot of reasons.
[+] [-] Fiahil|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fudged71|9 years ago|reply
Only concern for me is it sounds like post-processing is required.
[+] [-] yetihehe|9 years ago|reply
> As the acetone quickly evaporates, the cellulose acetate solidifies in place. A subsequent optional treatment replaces the acetate groups and increases the strength of the printed parts.
[+] [-] contingencies|9 years ago|reply
Polylactides (PLA) or polylactic acids represent a relatively new group of thermoplastics for packaging applications obtained from renewable resources. In extensive tests the functional and thermoforming properties of PLA are compared with those of other polymers. They are a biodegradable/compostable polyester manufactured from plant based resources. At 60°C and relative air humidity of 80% PLA will degrade completely after 60 days.
PLA's properties make it suitable for various thermoforming applications, particularly cups for cold bevarages and trays for fruit and vegetables. To produce high-molecular PLA, a process is used that is sustainable, solvent-free, and environmentally friendly.
PLA can be obtained from cassava, corn, maize, sugar beet, sugar cane, wheat, or agricultural byproducts containing natural plant sugars.
Although PLA has been known for more than a century, it has only been of commercial interest in recent years, in light of its biodegradability.
While PLA is one of the most promising bio-basedplastics, its main disadvantages are high price and unsatisfactory mechanical properties.
My understanding is that thermoforming is however only really utilized for sheet-based PLA material with essentially non-convex configurations. Also, it tends to degrade over 60 degrees celsius.
I wonder how this process and its output differs step-wise, limitation wise, and in terms of resulting material's mechanical properties. From the sounds of it, it's essentially a layering process and too early to judge limitations, though a small temperature range could perhaps be expected.
[+] [-] Jack000|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jszymborski|9 years ago|reply
Here's a mirror: https://archive.fo/eoohY
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] slurple|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aruggirello|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] agumonkey|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacquesm|9 years ago|reply
Cellulose absent water is extremely inert, so inert that we use it as long term information storage, it is also an extremely good insulator.
You'd be more likely looking at using the cellulose as a non-conducting carrier than as part of the logic itself.
[+] [-] jlebrech|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AstralStorm|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stagbeetle|9 years ago|reply