3D Printing with Bio-Based Materials

Abstract

Materiom is an online initiative that has been growing an online open source database of bio-based material recipes over the last couple of years. A new category of recipes to be found on this website is the category of bio-based 3D printable materials. The first 3D printable material recipe to emerge in the database was developed at the TU Delft. Since then the recipe was further developed into an alginate mussel shell composite. It was time for the next step: How can more of these kinds of materials be developed? Are there any ‘universal truths’ to be found in developing these materials and how can makers/designers be guided in this process? To tackle this problem a multileveled analysis was performed. A literature review of 3D printing with bio-based materials showed that in different fields of expertise, ranging from the medical field to the field of food, the first steps had been made into printing with bio-based materials. Printing experiments were then performed with a selection of binder materials mentioned in these papers. With iota-Carrageenan and kappa-Carrageenan in combination with different kinds of fillers such as rice starch and ground cacao shell, succesfull prints were made. Furthermore, interesting hand-printing results were obtained with chitosan and alginate. More importantly, however, an indicative range of material ratios was found that could help future material developers save time in their search. Finally, some basic guidelines for the printer set-up regarding nozzle size, print head speed and extrusion speed were formulated based on the findings in the experiments. These results led, together with the insights gained from analyzing makerspaces, cookbooks and the Materiom website, to a design proposal for an online material development tool. Currently the Materiom website provides ready-made recipes. As noticed during the analysis phase, however, not every experiment leads to a complete recipe. Also, based on the experience of a material developer, complete recipes are not always what is needed. Recipes can be inflexible and hinder experimentation and innovation. The material development tool provides therefore room for data on different levels. This means that the community can share a larger amount of data and it leaves room for more experimentation and innovation. This idea is brought in practice by dividing data into three different parts: Material information, material compatibility information and complete recipes. Together with a formulaic recipe that gives a starting point for experimentation and printer set-up guidelines, material developers have a range of tools that they can use according to their needs and likings for new material development. And when the experiments have been carried out, the data can be shared with community even when the results were not satisfying and thus saving time of their successors.