Functional Polymeric Materials

Chapter 1

Abstract

products.

3

aerospace, electronics

1. Introduction

Materials

Functional 3D Printed Polymeric

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an emerging 3D printing technology that enables the design and rapid manufacturing of materials with complex microstructures. Advances in 3D printing have allowed manufacturing companies to expand from design and 3D printing of prototypes to the rapid manufacturing of end products. Additive manufacturing enables the manufacturing of components in a layer-by-layer fashion, opposite to common manufacturing methods that rely on machining, molding and subtractive methods to obtain the final product. AM employs a computer-aided design software that allows for the design of virtual objects and the control of the nozzle and/or stage of the 3D printer. Due to their versatility and wide range of mechanical and chemical properties, polymers are the most utilized materials for AM. Polymers used for AM covers thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers, polymers with incorporated fillers, biopolymers, and polymers blended with biological materials. The architectural design and choice of polymers can lead to materials with enhanced functionalities, mechanical properties, porosity, and stability. This chapter focuses on the development of polymerbased 3D printing materials with multifunctionalities used specifically for the production of biomedical devices, electronic devices, and aerospace-relevant

Keywords: 3D printing, additive manufacturing, polymers, biomedical devices,

3D printing is an additive manufacturing (AM) process that enables the manufacturing of components with complex geometries in a layer-by-layer fashion. 3D printing became popular after the first machine was introduced to the market in 1986 by Hull [1]. Charles Hull created the first stereolithography (SLA) manufacturing method which he used for the rapid design and manufacturing of small prototype plastic parts. Stereolithography uses light to activate polymers within a resin (photopolymerization) to create 3D, complex shapes [2, 3]. This SLA system was commercialized in 1987 by the company 3D Systems. Since this breakthrough invention, there has been great effort in producing machines that can process a variety of plastics. Some of the machines currently in the market are fused deposition modeling (FDM) [4, 5] and direct ink write (DIW)

for extrusion-based processes [6, 7]. Powder bed fusion (PBF) and laser

sintering (SLS) are used for processes requiring a laser to cure or fuse polymeric

Denisse Ortiz-Acosta and Tanya Moore
