Leveraging freeze-casting for sustainable 3D printing of tailored TPU foams

Project Description

Introducing porosity to polymer materials (resulting in a polymer "foam") is an effective strategy to reduce material use, create high surface area, and increase the strength-to-weight ratio. Applications for these materials range from transportation to textiles to protective equipment. Current methods to make foams rely on rapid expansion of a "blowing agent", which has sustainability and health concerns. To address these concerns, we've developed solvent-templating (i.e., freeze-casting) techniques to generate thermoplastic urethane (TPU) foams. By controlling their rheological properties, these materials can be optimized for 3D printing (via direct ink write), thereby enabling the additive manufacturing of high performance polymer foams in a sustainable method. The resulting parts are shown to be elastomeric with high toughness.To further probe this process, SAXS measurements will determine the extent and characteristics of self-assembly (an important parameter in TPU performance).

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