Hot-lithography 3D printing of biobased epoxy resins

Abstract

The introduction of Hot Lithography has opened new perspective in the field of additive manufacturing especially with regard to high viscous formulations. The access to elevated temperature in the 3D printing process not only reduce the viscosity of resin but it allows to achieve higher curing kinetics and degree of conversion. Therefore, it is possible to process new type of monomers which are not reactive enough at room temperature towards UV-curing expanding the formulation design and selection to the 3D-printing of a broader range of epoxy-based formulations. With regard to climate change and the limitation of fossil resources, new needs arise for the origin of the materials. In this view, we investigated the use of two bio-based epoxy monomers (furandimethanol diglycidyl ether (FDE) and resorcinol diglycidyl ether (RDE)) in Hot Lithography 3D printing. Moreover, we compared the performance of the bio-based resins with a commercial fossil-based one, the 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol diglycidyl ether (CDE). The photocuring process was fully characterized by means of real-time NIR/photorheology and photo-DSC analysis. The thermo-mechanical properties of the final thermosets were investigated by DMTA and tensile test. Finally, the 3D printing of complex shapes was carried out to demonstrate the possibility to obtain arbitrary self-standing shapes.