Morphogenic Growth 3D Printing

Bio-inspired manufacturing research aims at providing economic benefits and energy savings of structural materials with minimal environmental impacts. In this talk, I will present our efforts using frontal polymerization (FP) for morphogenic manufacturing of poly-dicyclopentadiene (pDCPD), a stiff and tough thermosetting polymer capable of energy-efficient "self-propagation and self-curing". We developed a process called Growth Printing (GP), an additive manufacturing (AM) technology harnessing this spatially propagating FP reaction to produce 3D polymer parts 1000 times faster and twice as energy efficient than the faster stereolithography. In contrast with existing 3D printing, this morphogenic process is inspired by biological "growth and form" due to the self-directed propagation of the polymerization reaction. GP is triggered when a heated initiator contacts the uncured liquid resin in an open container. The initiator nucleates the frontal polymerization reaction and the radial propagation of the growth front. During the front propagation, the initiator is simultaneously moved up across the free surface of the resin, pulling the cured object out of the uncured resin. The vertical motion of the initiator with respect to the free resin surface controls the growth morphology of the 3D part. We developed an inverse design algorithm to produce 3D part geometries by modeling the reaction-diffusion-driven solidification process. Various bio-inspired geometries achieved using this process demonstrate substantial energy and data savings and high printing speeds. I will describe experiments and modeling to enable the potential use of this disruptive technology.