FMRG: Digital Light Manufacturing for the Circular Economy

随着产品随着时间的推移而变化，制造它们的过程也是如此。在二十世纪初，大多数消费品是由天然纤维、木材、陶瓷和金属制成的。随着世纪的推移，石油塑料成为大多数消费品的首选材料。在经济中取代以石油为基础的塑料是一个严重的挑战，将可再生原材料转换为可回收产品至关重要。该项目的一个目标是从生物质糖中合成单体(聚合物的基本成分)。另一个目标是设计制造易于回收的聚合物的单体。第三个目标是展示一种使用这些单体生产高质量3D打印部件的数字光制造(DLM)工艺。最终目标是使单体在产品中循环并返回到单体，为材料创造一个循环路径，从而减少浪费。此外，还将为K-12和公众观众开发互动活动，展示循环物流。将设计可化学回收的光聚合环烯烃树脂，其性能专为DLm量身定做。形成可逆聚合物键的能力将指导单体设计。从可再生原料中生产DLM单体的酶和微生物细胞将以聚酮合成酶(PKS)为基础开发。将开发和改进用于环烯树脂光聚合的DLM工艺。光催化系统、树脂流变学和仪器仪表将共同开发，用环状环烯树脂数字化制造精密零件。将对从候选树脂配方打印的结构进行广泛的机械测试，用于硬质和弹性3D打印产品，通过断层重建基于体积3D打印。3D打印环烯烃树脂的硬度、强度和断裂韧性将与领先的传统光聚合树脂进行基准比较，以指导材料和工艺选择，并最大限度地提高其对未来制造的影响。该项目由细胞和生化工程计划(ENG/CBET/CBE)、合成和合成生物学计划(BIO/MCB/SSB)和化学催化计划(MPS/CHE/CAT)联合支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As products change over time, so do the processes that manufacture them. At the beginning of the twentieth century, most consumer goods were made from natural fibers, wood, ceramics, and metal. As the century progressed, petroleum-based plastics became the preferred materials for most consumer products. Replacing petroleum-based plastics in the economy is a serious challenge, and converting renewable raw materials to recyclable products is critical. One goal of this project is to synthesize monomers (the building blocks of polymers) from biomass sugars. Another goal is to design monomers that make polymers that are easy to recycle. The third goal is to demonstrate a digital light manufacturing (DLM) process that produces high-quality 3D-printed parts using those monomers. The ultimate objective is to cycle the monomers through the product and back to monomers, creating a circular path for the material, thereby reducing waste. Also, interactive activities will be developed for K–12 and public audiences to demonstrate the circular material flow. Chemically recyclable photopolymerizable cycloolefin resins with properties tailored for DLM will be designed. The ability to form reversible polymer bonds will guide monomer design. Enzymes and microbial cells for biomanufacturing DLM monomers from renewable feedstocks will be developed based on polyketide synthases (PKSs). DLM processes for photo-polymerization of cycloolefin resins will be developed and improved. Photocatalyst systems, resin rheology, and instrumentation will be co-developed to digitally manufacture precision parts from circular cycloolefin resins. An extensive suite of mechanical tests will be carried out on structures printed from candidate resin formulations for both hard and elastomeric 3D-printed products, based on volumetric 3D printing via tomographic reconstruction. The rigidity, strength, and fracture toughness of 3D-printed cycloolefin resins will be benchmarked against leading conventional photopolymer resins, to guide material and process selection and maximize their impact on future manufacturing.This project is jointly supported by the Cellular and Biochemical Engineering Program (ENG/CBET/CBE), the Synstems and Synthetic Biology Program (BIO/MCB/SSB) and the Chemical Catalysis Program (MPS/CHE/CAT).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.