Additive manufacturing is currently at the forefront of the seemingly impending industrial revolution as researchers are investigating new ways to improve and optimize the manufacturing of machine/tooling components. Widely understood as ‘Industrialized 3-D printing’, additive manufacturing provides the promise of manufacturing entire machines and machine parts such as jet engines, hearing aids and gas turbines. According to studies conducted by the Fraunhofer Additive Manufacturing Alliance, approximately 150 companies currently operate in this services market; an interesting prospect as market researchers forecast a 300% growth in additive manufacturing niches over the next decade. Although currently used for rapid prototyping, additive manufacturing is expected to grow past conventional production methods as it is projected to be 50% cheaper and 400% faster in the next five years. This work aims to show the synthesis and characterization of low viscosity, plant-based, reactive diluents that can potentially be integrated into additive manufacturing resins. Plant and bio-based monomers have a potential to replace petroleum-based monomers and RAs with the added benefit of incorporating molecular structures unique to plant and bio-based feedstocks.

Low viscosity plant based building blocks for additive manufacturing

255th National Meeting (2018)

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