Autonomous portable larger-scale additive manufacturing technology for recycled plastics and standard thermoplastics (Lava3D)

塑料被认为是世界范围内对环境造成的最严重的问题之一，因此，回收塑料的需求在全球工业中正在加速。根据市场数据预测，截至2020年，再生塑料市场行业价值为500.1亿加元，预计到2025年将达到684.3亿加元。与塑料相关的高污染、温室气体排放、垃圾填埋场的短缺以及在水体中处置利用过的塑料，对我们的生态系统构成了严重威胁。此外，资源短缺和对新塑料材料的需求正在推动传统制造技术的界限，以使用再生塑料而不是原始热塑性塑料。因此，在两年的时间里，阿尔伯塔大学的研究人员旨在通过快速，快速，稳健，自动化，便携式和负担得起的大规模增材制造技术来支持加拿大市场，以通过使用再生塑料来帮助保护环境。拟议的技术还将兼容原始材料和多材料3D打印，以支持加拿大的资源型工业。拟议的聚合物AM工艺的更快速度也将支持在大流行期间对PPE部件（例如个人防护口罩）的大规模生产的日益增长的需求。

Plastics are considered as one of the most growing world-wide problems to the environment, and as a result, the need for recycling plastic is gaining speed in the global industry. According to Market Data Forecast, as of 2020, the market industry of recycled plastic is valued at 50.01 Billion CAD, and it is estimated to reach 68.43 billion CAD by the year 2025. The high pollution associated with plastics, GHG emission, shortage of landfill areas, and disposal of utilized plastics in the water bodies, are serious threats to our ecosystem. Besides, the shortage of resources and requirements for new plastic materials is pushing the boundaries of conventional manufacturing technologies to use recycled plastics over virgin thermoplastics. Therefore, over a span of two years, the researchers at the University of Alberta aims to support the Canadian market with a speedy, faster, robust, automated, portable and affordable large-scale additive manufacturing technology to help protect the environment by using recycled plastics. The technology proposed will also be compatible to work with virgin material and multi-material 3D printing for strength-to-requirements to support resource-based Industry in Canada. The proposed faster rate of polymer AM process will also support the growing need for mass-production of PPE components during the pandemic e.g. personal protective respirators.