A Greener Way to 3D Print Stronger Stuff

Charting a Sustainable Path for 3D Printing

Flashback to 1983, and Chuck Hull unveils his invention, stereolithography—a cutting-edge procedure known today as 3D printing. By turning liquid resin into tangible objects with the use of UV lasers, Hull brought an industry-disrupting technology to life. Fast forward to the present day, 3D printing has evolved from a mere novelty to a game changer, disrupting diverse industries. Whether it’s designing architectural blueprints, custom-making prosthetics, intricately modeling food, or even bioprinting organs, the potential for 3D printing seems endless.

But it’s not all rosy. The evolution of 3D printing is paired with an escalating environmental challenge, as most consumer-grade and industrial 3D printers currently rely on petroleum-based plastics. There are biodegradable alternatives or recycled filaments, but they often don’t meet the durability and resilience required for load-bearing or structural uses. Enter the struggle between sustainability and performance, a significant frontier that designers and engineers grapple with.

Meet SustainaPrint: The Future of Eco-Friendly 3D Printing

However, not all hope is lost. Teams from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the Hasso Plattner Institute have developed SustainaPrint, a software-hardware combo that lets users cleverly blend strong with eco-friendly filaments. Rather than using high-strength plastic to print an entire object, SustainaPrint leverages finite element analysis (FEA) to pinpoint stress-vulnerable spots and selectively fortifies them with durable materials.

Maxine Perroni-Scharf, MIT PhD student and the project’s trailblazer, hopes for SustainaPrint’s future integration in industrial and distributed manufacturing, especially in places with varied local material quality and composition. The approach seeks to reduce plastic consumption while maintaining performance by using robust material only where it’s strictly necessary.

During their trials, the researchers used Polymaker’s PolyTerra PLA as the sustainable filament, reinforced with Ultimaker’s standard or Tough PLA. They discovered that using only 20% of high-strength plastic can restore up to 70% of a fully reinforced object’s strength. From headphone stands and plant pots to mechanical rings and beams, they tested various items using three configurations, all proving the concept’s potential effectiveness.

A Future of Sustainable 3D Printing

According to Perroni-Scharf, the team’s findings suggest that strategic mix-matching of materials might outperform single material composition under certain conditions and geometries. This improvement in performance can likely be accredited to better stress distribution and the avoidance of brittle failures common with overly rigid materials.

In a bid to democratize strength assessment, the team has also designed a DIY testing kit. The 3D-printable tool that uses ordinary household items to measure tensile and flexural strength, offers closely matched results with manufacturers’ data, making it a valuable resource for home users and small-scale producers.

The SustainaPrint team plans to take the leap and release both the software and testing toolkit as open-source tools. Beyond industrial uses, SustainaPrint has the potential to be a great resource in educational settings where students can be introduced to concepts around material science, structural engineering, and sustainable design in a practical and hands-on way.

The task of incorporating sustainability into 3D printing processes and products is a mammoth one.As we continue to explore the limitless potential of 3D printing, teams like the SustainaPrint are paving the way for a future where eco-friendly design doesn’t compromise on durability and performance.

Acknowledged by Patrick Baudisch of the Hasso Plattner Institute, this project will hopefully close the gap between the idea of recycling 3D printed material and making it a reality. The endeavour was backed by a Designing for Sustainability Grant from the MIT-HPI Research Program and will be showcased at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology in September. For more details, check out the original news release here: MIT News.