Solvent‐Rich Pre‐Coagulation Bath for Tunable Liquid‐State Fusion Enables Robust Two‐Step Polymer Embedded Printing
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Effective interlayer fusion is a critical step enabling a 3D printing process. For engineering polymer printing, interlayer fusion is usually either heat-enabled or binder-based, which may introduce thermal residual stress, warpage, and undesirable impurities. To overcome such challenges, a two-step immersion phase separation (IPS)-based room-temperature polymer fusion and solidification approach for self-supported engineering polymer printing, termed IPS-embedded 3D printing (IPS-E3DP) is introduced. IPS-E3DP is implemented by first depositing polymer inks in a solvent-rich yield-stress pre-coagulation support bath to have an intermediate green part and then immersing the intermediate green part in a non-solvent coagulation bath for complete solidification. During the first critical step, dissolved polymer ink holds its deposited shape and fuses with a previously deposited polymeric feature in the pre-coagulation support bath. Specifically, it is the high-concentration solvent bath (usually 80% or higher) that enables tunable liquid-state fusion of polymers when the deposited polymer solidifies, and it is the yield-stress support bath that prevents the deposited polymer ink from spreading and deformation during fusion. IPS-E3DP enables the self-supported room-temperature high-fidelity printing of a wide range of engineering polymers, blends, and composites with superior geometric complexity. The process can be tailored as a polymer binder-based printing approach for versatile material printing.
Source: Advanced Science
Authors: Kaidong Song, Qian Wu, Ashley M. Compaan, Junting Shen, Chuanshen Zhou, Mingwei Chen, Marc Sole‐Gras, John‐Thomas T. Robinson, Bing Ren, Huayong Yang, Yong Huang, Jun Yin
Language: English
Subfield: Automotive Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $6,730
OpenAlex ID: W4412693755