Recent Advancements in Biomimetic 3D Printing Materials With Enhanced Mechanical Properties

Xinxin Yan,Shuang Lin,Laiming Jiang,Yang Yang,Siqi Xiao,Brandon Bethers,Brian Tran,Hengxi Chen

doi:10.3389/fmats.2021.518886

Abstract

Nature has developed a wide range of functional microstructures with optimized mechanical properties over millions of years of evolution. By learning from nature’s excellent models and principles, biomimicry provides a practicable strategy for designing and fabricating the next smart materials with enhanced properties. Nevertheless, the complicated micro-structural constructions in nature models are beyond the ability of conventional processes, hindering the developments of biomimetic research and its forthputting in engineering systems. Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing processes have revolutionized manufacturing via their ability to manufacture complex micro/mesostructures, increase design freedom, provide mass customization, and waste minimization, as well as rapid prototyping. Here, a review of recent advances in biomimetic 3D printing materials with enhanced mechanical properties is provided. The design and fabrication were inspired by various natural structures, such as balsa wood, honeycomb, nacre, lobster claw, etc., which are presented and discussed. Finally, future challenges and perspectives are given.

Highlights

There are numerous biological systems on earth that have experienced thousands of years of evolution to refine their structures, each which enormously take advantage of different environments (Catania, 2012; Yang et al, 2018b)
Further development of bioinspired 3D printing of mechanical reinforced structures will depend on the development of materials and structures to further improve the tensile modulus, impact resistance, and toughness
New 3D printing processes need to be developed such as higher resolution, multi-material capability, larger printing area, and lower cost fabrication

Summary

INTRODUCTION

There are numerous biological systems on earth that have experienced thousands of years of evolution to refine their structures, each which enormously take advantage of different environments (Catania, 2012; Yang et al, 2018b). The main content of the paper is divided into two parts: (1) Single material– bioinspired reinforced structures that are inspired by creatures such as shrimp and honeycomb These were manufactured by 3D printing using a single material, such as polymer, metal, graphene, and so on. Hedayati et al (2016) used polylactic acid (PLA) as a single raw material to manufacture thick honeycomb structures by fused deposition modeling (FDM), a process accomplished by directly extruding out the materials with a heated printing nozzle (Figure 2A). By using both Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam principles, this research shows accurate analysis solutions for the stiffness matrix of thick hexagonal honeycombs. This study shows that the elastic modulus, compressive strength, and energy absorption per unit volume increase from 71.77, 2.16 MPa, 341 KJ/m3 for the L-EH sample with low density to 496.97, 5.96 MPa, 2,132 KJ/m3 for the L-FH-1 sample with high density (Yan et al, 2020)

Single Material

Nacre Structure

Findings

CONCLUSION AND PERSPECTIVE