Handbook of Sustainable Polymers for Additive Manufacturing

Antonio Paesano

• Editore: CRC Press
• Anno: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000470505
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Technik & Maschinenbau
• Categoria: Maschinen- und Anlagebau

This book provides the latest technical information on sustainable materials that are feedstocks for additive manufacturing (AM). Topics covered include an up-to-date and extensive overview of raw materials, their chemistry, and functional properties of their commercial versions; a description of the relevant AM processes, products, applications, advantages, and limitations; prices and market data; and a forecast of sustainable materials used in AM, their properties, and applications in the near future. Data included are relative to current commercial products and are presented in easy-to-read tables and charts.

Features

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• Highlights up-to-date information and data of actual commercial materials

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• Offers a broad survey of state-of the-art information

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• Forecasts future materials, applications, and areas of R&D

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• Contains simple language, explains technical terms, and minimizes technical lingo

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• Includes over 200 tables, nearly 200 figures, and more than 1, 700 references to technical publications, mostly very recent

Handbook of Sustainable Polymers for Additive Manufacturing appeals to a diverse audience of students and academic, technical, and business professionals in the fields of materials science and mechanical, chemical, and manufacturing engineering.

1 Sustainable Polymers for Additive Manufacturing

DOI: 10.1201/9781003221210-1

Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

− United Nations 1987, Our Common Future

1.1 Introduction

Currently, there is consensus among governments, corporations, and public opinions in developing and industrialized countries worldwide on the necessity to reduce pollution and waste, and efficiently use the natural resources, in order to protect health and the natural environment, and achieve and maintain a sustainable standard of living and economic development. A material is sustainable if it is derived from renewable feedstocks, and can be recycled and disposed of in ways harmless to the environment. Sustainable polymers (SPs) are polymers derived from renewable feedstocks, such as plants, animals, and microorganisms. Their utilization enables to achieve the above objectives, and is growing, thanks to the development of cost-effective industrial production routes, consumers’ demand for eco-friendly products, and pro-environment policies and legislations at national and local level, and international agreements that have been implemented for decades, among other factors. SPs also critically contribute to transitioning from the current economy towards the circular economy that is an economic model (described later in this chapter) minimizing the use of natural resources and energy, and generation of waste. Furthermore, when SPs are processed through specific fabrication methods termed additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing (simply referred to as printing hereafter), SPs reduce feedstock waste, and at the same time are turned into innovative products with novel and advanced properties and functionalities.

Although the figures may vary depending on the information sources, experts agree that the global AM market will significantly grow, as it has steadily and rapidly done in the last 30 years. The global AM market (including printers, materials, software, and services) is expected to grow from USD 8.4 billion in 2018 to USD 36.6 billion by 2027 at an impressive CAGR of 17.7% (Report Buyer 2019). According to another source, the AM global market will steadily increase from USD 9.3 billion in 2018 to USD 41.6 billion in 2027 (Sher 2018). A 3D or AM printer (referred to as printer hereafter) is a machine fabricating a physical object by adding material selectively (that is in selected locations) and layer upon layer to reproduce a 3D digital model.

SPs for AM are benefitting from the following factors: fast diffusion of printers among industrial, business, educational, institutional (libraries) and personal users; dropping price of personal printers; and commercial availability of several SPs for printers, varying in appearance, properties, and composition. Numerous SPs are also being developed and investigated for a wide range of applications, ranging from the Internet of Things (IoT) to tissue engineering to fabricating buildings, and they greatly contribute to creative solutions driving leading-edge innovation.

Currently, SPs for AM are preferred for non-functional, do-it-yourself items instead of engineering and load-bearing applications, although reinforced SPs have been chosen for architectural-size load-bearing structures, such as the Leaf Bridge (Relander-Koivisto 2018) made of materials supplied by UPM Formi 3D (Finland), and the pavilion components designed by SHoP Architects (USA) for Design Miami 2016 event (Cascone 2016). If SPs for AM are to transition from household and display items to engineering and functional components, they have to combine a competitive price and adequate and consistent values of physical and mechanical (static, dynamic, long-term, above and below room temperature, etc.) properties under various more or less demanding service conditions associated with load-bearing applications.

This book describes a multitude of experimental and commercial SPs for AM, but only those that meet a combination of the following requirements will be commercially successful: possessing a ratio performance/cost competitive with or superior to existing feedstocks, filling a specific need currently unfilled,...