Printability Assessment of Ethyl Cellulose Biopolymer Using Direct Ink Writing

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Abstract

The goal of this article is to investigate the printability of ethyl cellulose, a biomass derived polymer, using a custom-modified direct ink writing (DIW) printer. Ethyl cellulose is widely used as a thin-film coating in controlled-release vitamins and medical pills as well as a thickener in the food, cosmetics, and other industries, making it an attractive candidate biopolymer for 3D printing. In this work, ethyl cellulose was dissolved in an alpha-terpineol solvent at different solid contents to prepare inks with different viscosities. A custom DIW printer, retrofitted with an in situ infrared curing system, was designed, calibrated, and analyzed for printing ethyl cellulose. The results demonstrate that the printer can maintain a steady flow for a range of ethyl cellulose inks having different viscosities. In summary, DIW can be successfully deployed toward fabricating biopolymer parts.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3761-3770
Number of pages10
JournalJOM
Volume73
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2021

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Materials Science
  • General Engineering

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