Accurate additive manufacturing of lightweight and elastic carbons using plastic precursors

Paul Smith, Jiayue Hu, Anthony Griffin, Mark Robertson, Alejandro Güillen Obando, Ethan Bounds, Carmen B. Dunn, Changhuai Ye, Ling Liu () and Zhe Qiang ()
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Paul Smith: The University of Southern Mississippi
Jiayue Hu: Temple University
Anthony Griffin: The University of Southern Mississippi
Mark Robertson: The University of Southern Mississippi
Alejandro Güillen Obando: The University of Southern Mississippi
Ethan Bounds: The University of Southern Mississippi
Carmen B. Dunn: The University of Southern Mississippi
Changhuai Ye: Donghua University
Ling Liu: Temple University
Zhe Qiang: Temple University

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Despite groundbreaking advances in the additive manufacturing of polymers, metals, and ceramics, scaled and accurate production of structured carbons remains largely underdeveloped. This work reports a simple method to produce complex carbon materials with very low dimensional shrinkage from printed to carbonized state (less than 4%), using commercially available polypropylene precursors and a fused filament fabrication-based process. The control of macrostructural retention is enabled by the inclusion of fiber fillers regardless of the crosslinking degree of the polypropylene matrix, providing a significant advantage to directly control the density, porosity, and mechanical properties of 3D printed carbons. Using the same printed plastic precursors, different mechanical responses of derived carbons can be obtained, notably from stiff to highly compressible. This report harnesses the power of additive manufacturing for producing carbons with accurately controlled structure and properties, while enabling great opportunities for various applications.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45211-4

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