News

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…

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…

Jackie Anderson offers a review regarding one of the most critical 3D printing topics today: materials. As innovation continues to grow, so do the options regarding software, hardware, and different types of plastics (along with many other alternatives today). In ‘Engineering Biodegradable PHA Blends,’ Anderson explores issues with plastic waste, and the need to use more…

The recent development of new polymerization methods that allow the economical production of poly lactic acid (PLA) with a higher molecular weight have effectively removed many of the limiting factors on its use, opening-up a greatly expanded application base for the plant-based bioplastic. This is happening just at a time when pressures on extended supply lines…

Although corals may look like plants, they are actually animal structures that host dense populations of algae on their surfaces. Corals provide a host for tiny photosynthetic algae. This intricate symbiotic relationship between coral and algae is responsible for maintaining the high diversity of coral reef ecosystems. Whilst coral reefs cover only one per cent of…