Fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing is a rapidly growing tool that has shown promise in many industries. However, this technique is mainly used for prototyping due to the poor mechanical properties of the fabricated structures, owing to the nature of FDM compatible materials. Dynamic Covalent Chemistry (DCC) has been employed in the field of polymer chemistry as a method to improve mechanical properties through self-correcting molecular interactions. Materials that incorporate DCC can exhibit self-healing properties as a response to external stimuli including mechanical stress, temperature, and solvents. Previous studies have shown that furan-maleimide Diels-Alder DCC can be used to enhance the mechanical properties of 3D printed structures using polymer blends and to print novel thermosensitive polymers through FDM. DCC can also be employed to process materials that are not usually processable by FDM. Herein, we report the synthesis of thermally reversible Diels-Alder based hydrogels for FDM 3D printing.

Thermally reversible Diels-Alder soft polymers for 3D printing

255th National Meeting (2018)

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