• Cellulose may soon become a renewable and biodegradable alternative to the polymers that are currently used in 3-D printing materials, a new study has found.

More Details on Cellulose:

• “Cellulose is the most important component in giving wood its mechanical properties.
• And because it is inexpensive, bio-renewable, biodegradable and also chemically versatile, it is used in a lot of products.
• “Cellulose and its derivatives are used in pharmaceuticals, medical devices as food additives, building materials, clothing, all sorts of different areas.
• And a lot of these kinds of products would benefit from the kind of customisation that additive manufacturing — 3D printing enables.
• When heated, cellulose thermally decomposes before it becomes flowable.
• The intermolecular bonding also makes high-concentration cellulose solutions too viscous to easily extrude, researchers said.

Cellulose Acetate

• To avoid this problem, researchers chose to work with cellulose acetate — a material that is easily made from cellulose and is already widely produced and readily available.
• Using cellulose acetate the number of hydrogen bonds in this material was reduced by the acetate groups.
• Cellulose acetate can be dissolved in acetone and extruded through a nozzle.
• As the acetone quickly evaporates, the cellulose acetate solidifies in place.
• A subsequent optional treatment replaces the acetate groups and increases the strength of the printed parts.“After we 3D print, we restore the hydrogen bonding network through a sodium hydroxide treatment.