Stereolithographic 3D printing of extrinsically self-healing composites

Sanders, Polly; Young, Adam J.; Qin, Yang; Fancey, Kevin S.; Reithofer, Michael R.; Guillet-Nicolas, Rémy; Kleitz, Freddy; Pamme, Nicole; Chin, Jia Min

Abstract

We demonstrate for the first time the direct stereolithographic 3D printing of an extrinsically self-healing composite, comprised of commercial photocurable resin modified with anisole and PMMA-filled microcapsules. The composites demonstrate solvent-welding based autonomous self-healing to afford 87% recovery of the initial critical toughness. This work illustrates the potential of stereolithographic printing to fabricate self-healing composites with user-defined structures, avoiding the need for extensive rheological optimization of printing inks, like in direct-write 3D printing. Importantly, this work also demonstrates the inclusion of microcapsules into 3D printing resins to incorporate additional functionality into printed composites, which could be adapted for applications beyond self-healing materials.

Citation

Sanders, P., Young, A. J., Qin, Y., Fancey, K. S., Reithofer, M. R., Guillet-Nicolas, R., Kleitz, F., Pamme, N., & Chin, J. M. (2019). Stereolithographic 3D printing of extrinsically self-healing composites. Scientific reports, 9(1), Article 388. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-36828-9

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 26, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jan 23, 2019
• Publication Date: Jan 23, 2019
• Deposit Date: Jan 29, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 4, 2019
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Print ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 388
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-36828-9
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1236942
• Contract Date: Jan 29, 2019