Materials from trees assembled by 3D printing – Wood tissue beyond nature limits

• Materials from trees have the potential to replace fossil based and other non-sustainable materials in everyday products, thus transforming the society back to a bioeconomy. This paper presents a 3D printing platform which mimics wood biogenesis for the assembly of wood biopolymers into wood-like hierarchical composites. The genome was substituted with G-code, the programming language which controls how the 3D printer assembles material. The rosette was replaced by the printer head for extrusion of cellulose. Instead of microtubules guiding the alignment of cellulose, the printing direction was guided by an x/y stage, thus mimicking the microfibril angle. The printed structures were locked by an enzymatic crosslinking reaction similar to what occurs in the cell wall upon lignification. Hierarchical structures characteristic for wood were designed and printed with control of density, swelling and directional strength. Accelerating the development of the 3D printing technology helps realize the circular bioeconomy where garments, packaging, furniture and entire houses are manufactured by 3D printing wood.

Ämnesord

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Lantbruksvetenskap, skogsbruk och fiske -- Trävetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries -- Wood Science (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik -- Pappers-, massa- och fiberteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering -- Paper, Pulp and Fiber Technology (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik -- Kompositmaterial och -teknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering -- Composite Science and Engineering (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

3D printing

Biomimetic

Cellulose nanofibrils

Hemicellulose

Honeycomb design

Biomimetics

Biopolymers

Cellulose

Crosslinking

Forestry

Printing presses

Swelling

Wood

3-D printing

Directional strength

Enzymatic crosslinking

Hierarchical composite

Hierarchical structures

Sustainable materials

3D printers

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)