In honor of Prof. Timothy Long’s reception of the Paul J. Flory Award, it’s my privilege to share my experiences as a student in the Macromolecules Innovation Institute during his directorship and our work during my time as graduate researcher in his group at Virginia Tech.<br/>Elastomers remain an enticing and elusive material class for additive manufacturing platforms due to the traditional paradoxes involved in the optimization of their structure-property-processing relationships. While optimal performance typically originates from high molecular weight linear precursors crosslinked at low levels, viscosity limitations in most leading printer platforms typically restrict photopolymer molecular weights to oligomeric ranges and below. Further, additive manufacturing (AM) platforms such as vat photopolymerization (VP, SLA, DLP) and UV-Assisted Direct Ink Writing (UV-DIW) rely on rapid fluid-solid transitions induced by light and relatively low shear forces to template fluids into load-bearing shapes, which are unamenable to the curing chemistry and rheology developed for traditional elastomer manufacturing methods.<br/>Our work investigates the use of polymer colloids (latex, dispersions, etc.), a polymer processing medium prevalent throughout nature and industry, as a uniquely suited candidate for multiple AM platforms through the introduction of novel photo-reactivity and colloidal rheology tailored to each platform. The resulting printable colloids prove an effective strategy to circumvent traditional photopolymer obstacles and combine high elastomeric performance with the complex geometries unique to AM fabrication.

Tailoring the reactivity and rheology of polymer colloids for 3D printing elastomers across additive manufacturing platforms

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.