Explore meaningful applications for self-healing polymers through additive manufacturing

Abstract

Nowadays lots of smart materials have been developed and are looking for meaningful applications that would benefit people’s life in the future. These emerging materials need to be materialised and realized through the manufacturing process. On the other hand, looking at the trend of manufacturing, the development of additive manufacturing has enabled the complex structures and new materiality on printed object that creates aspiring application opportunities. The intersection of these topics proved to be a valuable starting point in the formulation of this project, in which a self-healing polymer developed by company Cidetic will be explored through the journey of additive manufacturing in order to find the new functionalities of the materials and the meaningful match with applications in daily life. In the final prototyping phase, several key potentialities were proved that lead to the final concept of experimental kits focusing on soft robotics and material connection. These kits serve as the medium to educate and engage people in finding possible applications from the starting point of more understanding and less complexity.