Universal approach for developing reprocessable and reprintable plant oil-based resins for digital light processing 3D printing

Abstract

Recently, researchers have shown great interest in the development of biobased and reprintable 3D printing materials for sustainable 3D printing. Herein, a method for developing plant oil (PO)-based digital light processing (DLP) printing resins that are both reprocessable and reprintable is proposed. Biobased UV-curable monomers (POPITs) containing dynamic hindered urea bonds (HUBs) from POs were synthesized via the thiol-ene click reaction. A range of DLP printing resins (POPIT-I) with high biobased content (52.6%–58.1%) were prepared by blending POPITs with the biobased dilute monomer isobornyl acrylate. These resins demonstrated good mechanical and thermal properties (e.g., tensile strength: 45.1–49.5 MPa and Tg: 74–92 °C), as well as high DLP printing quality. Reprocessable DLP printing was employed to fabricate large-volume parts through the dissociation and reorganization of HUBs, thereby reducing printing difficulty and printing time. Additionally, a powder blending and modification method was used to recycle and reprint printed materials. The printing materials, including printed green parts and discarded supporting materials, were milled into micron-sized powders and then blended with POPIT-I to prepare the powder blending resins. The milled powders in the powder blending resins were further modified by 2-(tert-butylamino) ethyl methacrylate to prepare reprinting resins. This process resulted in the grafting of C = C onto the powder surface, which eliminated heterogeneity between the powders and POPIT-I. The mechanical and thermal properties of the reprinting resins were comparable with those of POPIT-I even after three rounds of recycling. Furthermore, the reprinting method reported here is applicable to other dynamic covalent bond-based 3D printing systems.