Re:3D printing with cellulose
by logfromblammo on Monday March 20, 2017 @12:04PM
(#13915272)
Cellulose is a very useful chemical. It was generally replaced by petrochemical synthetic polymers for many of its original applications because the latter may be more stable at higher temperatures, under UV light, in contact with certain common chemicals (like water), etc. And most of the petro-plastics are cheaper to manufacture.
Cellulosic thermoplastics often appear in products where you don't want the plastic component to last forever, particularly textile fibers.
This 3D printing application seems similar to processes used to produce rayon and cellophane, but instead of producing the more universally useful fiber and sheet forms as a commodity, it forms an end-product directly and then stabilizes it chemically.
Cellulosic thermoplastics often appear in products where you don't want the plastic component to last forever, particularly textile fibers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose_acetate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose_triacetate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellophane
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyocell
This 3D printing application seems similar to processes used to produce rayon and cellophane, but instead of producing the more universally useful fiber and sheet forms as a commodity, it forms an end-product directly and then stabilizes it chemically.