Abstract
Advances in imaging have made it possible to view nanometer and sub-nanometer structures that are either synthesized or that occur naturally. It is believed that fluid dynamic and thermodynamic behavior differ significantly at these scales from the bulk. From a materials perspective, it is important to be able to create complex structures at the nanometer scale, reproducibly, so that the fluid behavior may be studied. New advances in nanoscale-resolution 3D-printing offer opportunities to achieve this goal. In particular, additive manufacturing with two-photon polymerization allows creation of intricate structures. Using this technology, a creation of the first nano-3D-printed digital (shale) rock is reported. In this paper, focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) nano-tomography image dataset was used to reconstruct a high-resolution digital rock 3D model of a Marcellus Shale rock sample. Porosity of this 3D model has been characterized and its connected/effective pore system has been extracted and nano-3D-printed. The workflow of creating this novel nano-3D-printed digital rock 3D model is described in this paper.
Highlights
Creation of a synthetic nanoporous geomaterial (rock) is an involved multi-step process, which includes: advanced imaging and image analysis; pore network modeling; and nano-3D-printing of the extracted essential features of the rock using two-photon polymerization
Schematic diagram illustrating the principles of operation of a nano-3D-printer
Creation of a synthetic nanoporous geomaterial is an involved multi-step process, which includes: advanced imaging and image analysis; pore network modeling; and nano-3D-printing of the extracted essential features of the rock using two-photon polymerization
Summary
Creation of a synthetic nanoporous geomaterial (rock) is an involved multi-step process, which includes: advanced imaging and image analysis; pore network modeling; and nano-3D-printing of the extracted essential features of the rock using two-photon polymerization. A workflow for nano-3D-printing of digital (shale) rock 3D model, reconstructed from nanoscale-resolution 3D imaging data, has been presented for the first time. A 15 μm × 15 μm × 15 μm digital rock 3D model of the Marcellus Shale was reconstructed from processed and segmented FIB-SEM nano-tomography image dataset collected at 10 nm/voxel resolution.
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