Glycerol-based sustainably sourced resin for volumetric printing
Eduards Krumins, Joachim C. Lentz, Ben Sutcliffe, Ali Sohaib, Philippa L. Jacob, Benedetta Brugnoli, Valentina Cuzzucoli Crucitti, Robert Cavanagh, Robert Owen, Cara Moloney, Laura Ruiz‐Cantu, Iolanda Francolini, Steven M. Howdle, Maxim Shusteff, Felicity R. A. J. Rose, Ricky D. Wildman, Yinfeng He, Vincenzo Taresco
Abstract
, vegetable origin), colourless, and easily functionisable oligomer produced from glycerol. To transform polyglycerol-6 into an acrylate photo-printable resin we adopted a simple, one-step, and scalable synthesis route. Polyglycerol-6-acrylate fulfils all the necessary criteria for volumetric printing (transparency, photo-reactivity, viscosity) and was successfully used to print a variety of models with intricate geometries and good resolution. The waste resin was found to be reusable with minimal performance issues, improving resin utilisation and minimising waste material. Furthermore, by incorporating dopants such as poly(glycerol) adipate acrylate (PGA-A) and 10,12-pentacosadyinoic acid (PCDA), we demonstrated the ability to print objects with a diverse range of functionalities, including temperature sensing probes and a polyester excipient, highlighting the potential applications of these new resins.