Relativity Space and 6K announced a strategic partnership to prove true sustainability in additive manufacturing production. The partnership is intended to create a closed loop supply chain where certified scrap materials produced at Relativity are turned into powder by 6K, which can then be reprinted by Relativity. The two companies will also explore new materials created…
When the greatest share of a product’s environmental impact comes from producing its feedstock, selecting the right material is critical. For 3D printing and manufacturing in plastic, biopolymer could be the first step toward a more sustainable model. The New Plastics Economy project of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has three tenets: One, plastics in use should…
The automotive industry is the third-largest consumer of polymer materials after the packaging and construction industries. By using engineered plastics with recycled content, automotive companies around the world are becoming less dependent on the consumption of finite resources. In response to that demand, LANXESS, a leading global supplier of specialty chemicals and polymer materials based in Cologne, Germany,…
Researchers at Germany’s University of Freiburg may have found a way to make 3D printing a bit more environmentally friendly — by printing with a new material best described as a wood-based biopaste. After all, who needs boring, unsustainable plastics when you’ve got an alternative that works impressively well, made out of wood biopolymers cellulose and…
Fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) composites are increasingly being adopted as structural materials when building modern urban infrastructure. In a partnership with three Dutch companies, DSM, Royal HaskoningDHV and CEAD, the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands has showcased the use of circular FRP composites in the world's first 3D-printed footbridge using recycled plastic material. FRP composites were…
Relativity Space has announced a strategic alliance with 6K, a developer of microwave plasma technology for powder production, to 3D print rocket components made from sustainable materials. The partnership will establish a closed loop supply chain through which scrap materials produced by Relativity will be transformed into premium AM powders by 6K and redeployed to Relativity…
Many of us have heard of using vegetable oil for alternative sources of energy like diesel gasoline, but you may be surprised to learn that it can play a role in 3D printing, too. Previous research has been performed in using vegetable oils with UV curing resins in SLA and DLP 3D printing; however, success has…
As many of you liked the article on biological polymers that can lead to circular manufacturing models, I will dive deeper into this topic, explaining how a transition to biological polymers could be achieved. So far we have learned that the most abundant organic biopolymers like cellulose and chitin can be used to produce very strong…
Nature’s simple palette results in products far more advanced than those produced by human industrial science. Seashells that are twice as tough as science’s best ceramics. Spiders can spin silk that is stronger than steel yet light enough to float on the wind. Nature suggests that the potential for inventive uses of easily recycled materials is…
A faster, more efficient way of recycling plant-based “bioplastics” has been developed by a team of scientists at the Universities of Birmingham and Bath. The team has shown how their chemical recycling method not only speeds up the process, it can also be converted into a new product — a biodegradable solvent — that can be…