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Current progress on the 3D printing of thermosets

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Abstract

3D printing has attracted increasing attention as it exhibits excellent potential in the fabrication of 3D complex structures, which are very difficult to make using conventional techniques, with low cost, less energy, and material consumption. Thermosets are integral to today’s aerospace, automotive, marine, and energy industries and will be vital to the next generation of lightweight, energy-efficient structures, owing to their excellent specific strength, thermal stability, and chemical resistance. Manufacturing with thermosets using innovative 3D printing techniques has the potential to revolutionize composite manufacturing. However, thermosets are highly crosslinked and irreversibly cured, and it is challenging to integrate the printing process with curing process at high rate and high quality. This review will address current effort and future direction in 3D printing of thermosets.

Graphical abstract

3D printing of thermosets incorporates non-reversible crosslinkage reaction, resulting in tunable structure and performance.

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Funding

The authors received funding support from Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), National Science Foundation and State of Texas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Cytology Core Facility, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 417E 68th St, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Biran Wang

  2. Department of Industrial and Systeems Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77845, USA

    Biran Wang, Zimeng Zhang, Zhijian Pei & Shiren Wang

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, 79409, USA

    Jingjing Qiu

  4. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77845, USA

    Shiren Wang

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  1. Biran Wang
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Correspondence to Shiren Wang.

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Wang, B., Zhang, Z., Pei, Z. et al. Current progress on the 3D printing of thermosets. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 3, 462–472 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-020-00183-z

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