Materials from trees assembled by 3D printing – Wood tissue beyond nature limits
Journal article, 2019

Materials from trees have the potential to replace fossil based and other non-sustainable materials in everyday products, thus transforming the society back to a bioeconomy. This paper presents a 3D printing platform which mimics wood biogenesis for the assembly of wood biopolymers into wood-like hierarchical composites. The genome was substituted with G-code, the programming language which controls how the 3D printer assembles material. The rosette was replaced by the printer head for extrusion of cellulose. Instead of microtubules guiding the alignment of cellulose, the printing direction was guided by an x/y stage, thus mimicking the microfibril angle. The printed structures were locked by an enzymatic crosslinking reaction similar to what occurs in the cell wall upon lignification. Hierarchical structures characteristic for wood were designed and printed with control of density, swelling and directional strength. Accelerating the development of the 3D printing technology helps realize the circular bioeconomy where garments, packaging, furniture and entire houses are manufactured by 3D printing wood.

Cellulose nanofibrils

Biomimetic

3D printing

Honeycomb design

Hemicellulose

Author

Kajsa Markstedt

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC)

Karl Håkansson

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC)

Guillermo Toriz Gonzalez

Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC)

University of Guadalajara

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

Paul Gatenholm

Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC)

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Applied Materials Today

23529407 (eISSN)

Vol. 15 280-285

Subject Categories

Wood Science

Paper, Pulp and Fiber Technology

Composite Science and Engineering

DOI

10.1016/j.apmt.2019.02.005

More information

Latest update

5/11/2020