Additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, is increasingly moving from prototyping to production. Accordingly, the amount of 3D printed waste is also increasing. Some of the more concerning 3D printing plastic waste materials come from stereolithography, which uses photopolymerization of (meth)acrylate(s) to create thermosets that cannot be reused or recycled. To address this issue, we propose to use mechanical recycling, specifically cryomilling, to recycle solid UV cured thermoset materials by incorporating the milled solid back into neat liquid resin. For this study, two commercial and one non-commercial resins were examined. The two commercial materials demonstrate little loss in mechanical or visual properties between 5 - 10 wt% recycled material. In contrast, the non-commercial material (50/50 mixture of isobornyl acrylate and polyethylene glycol diacrylate) has little loss in mechanical properties up to 30 wt% recycled content but significant loss in visual properties. We attribute this loss in visual properties to the selective absorption of neat resin components into the recycled solid. Overall, recycling thermoset 3D printed waste back into the printing process could dramatically reduce the plastic waste that comes from supports or failed parts in this field.

Mechanical recycling of thermosets from 3D printing waste

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ACS Fall 2022

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