Biobased Acrylate Photocurable Resin Formulation for Stereolithography 3D Printing

Abstract

To facilitate the ongoing transition toward a circular economy, the availability of renewable materials for additive manufacturing becomes increasingly important. Here, we report the successful fabrication of complex shaped prototypes from biobased acrylate photopolymer resins, employing a commercial stereolithography apparatus (SLA) 3D printer. Four distinct resins with a biobased content ranging from 34 to 67% have been developed. All formulations demonstrated adequate viscosity and were readily polymerizable by the UV-laser-based SLA process. Increasing the double-bond concentration within the resin results in stiff and thermally resilient 3D printed products. High-viscosity resins lead to high-resolution prototypes with a complex microarchitecture and excellent surface finishing, comparable to commercial nonrenewable resins. These advances can facilitate the wide application of biobased resins for construction of new sustainable products via stereolithographic 3D printing methods.

Figure 1

Viscosity as a function of shear rate for uncured BAPR samples and commercial ACPR-48.

Figure 2

Tensile strength (red) and Young’s modulus (cyan) of cured ACPR-48 printed on both Formlabs Form 2 SLA 3D printer and Autodesk Ember DLP 3D printer. The tensile bars (ISO 527-2-1BA) were printed normal to the build direction.

Figure 3

FTIR spectra of (a) uncured BAPR-α (orange) and (b) cured BAPR-α (blue) printed on the Formlabs Form 2 SLA 3D printer.

Figure 4

TGA curves of the cured BAPR samples and commercial ACPR-48 printed on the Formlabs Form 2 SLA 3D printer.

Figure 5

(a) Photograph of the rook tower prototype printed with BAPR-α (left) and corresponding SEM images of the internal helix in the prototype (right), (b) photograph of the rook tower prototype printed with BAPR-β (left) and corresponding SEM images of the internal helix in the prototype (right), (c) photograph of the rook tower prototype printed with BAPR-γ (left) and corresponding SEM images of the internal helix in the prototype (right), (d) photograph of the rook tower prototype printed with BAPR-δ (left) and corresponding SEM images of the internal helix in the prototype (right), and (e) photograph of the rook tower prototype printed with ACPR-48 (left) and corresponding SEM images of the internal helix in the prototype (right). All products were printed on the Formlabs Form 2 SLA 3D printer.