Emissions of volatile organic compounds from 4D printing and associated control strategies towards workplace safety

The integration of additive manufacturing technologies with stimuli-responsive shape memory materials allows the dynamic self-adaptation of fabricated parts upon exposure to external stimulations. The additional dimension of time inspires the concept of four-dimensional printing technology. However, the emerging feedstock materials and the employment of external stimuli in 4D printing are also associated with new workplace hazards and occupational health concerns. Current evaluation studies on additive manufacturing are mainly focused on the safety and health effects that originated from the part production phase and cannot be directly applied in 4D printing processes. In this study, the emissions of volatile organic compounds from stereolithography-based 4D printing process with thermo-responsive materials are targeted as the potential safety concern. Real-time total volatile organic compound monitoring is conducted during various production phases to align the emission sources with critical operating activities, including both operator interventions and machine operations. Comparative experiments are performed to evaluate the effectiveness of proposed emission control strategies. In particular, alterations in operation procedures such as stirring speed in material mixing and post-printing stimulation method can contribute positively to air emission control during manual operations. In addition, the installation of activated carbon fiber filters inside the machine build chamber can lead to a significant reduction of air emissions during part fabrication with an overall total volatile organic compound concentration reduction of 58.91%.