Scientists develop eco-friendly ink for printing durable water-repellent 3D objects with self-healing properties.
As per the report released this week, researchers have developed a new exceptional ink for 3D printing that allows for water-repellent features.
The newfound capacity of the ink came from its PDMS base which does not require additional solvents. The end products are superhydrophobic materials, meaning they repel water not only on the surface but internally as well.
The innovative ink incorporates thermally expandable microspheres and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) particles to create a hierarchical roughness pattern and low surface energy throughout the printed object.
“During the thermal curing process, the expandable microspheres generate cellular pores between 20 and 50 micrometers in size,” explained a researcher familiar with the study. “This disrupts the formation of a dense skin layer in the cured ink, while the PTFE particles migrate to the surface.”
The output is of a material that qualifies as superhydrophobic since it achieves a water contact angle of 155 degrees and a sliding angle of only 9 degrees, providing extreme water repellence features.
What differentiates this development is the durability of the printed foam. Unlike traditional superhydrophobic coatings which lose their qualities upon damage, these objects can withstand 1,000 abrasion cycles due to their self-similar porous structures throughout the material.
The foam, which weighs only 0.16 grams per cubic centimetre, demonstrates versatility for real-world implementations such as waterproofing, oil-water separation, and functioning as a waterproof buoyancy carrier for drones as it can support seven times its weight.
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This represents a remarkable development for the fabrication of rigid bulk superhydrophobic materials using scalable 3D printing. The materials are suggested to be environmentally friendly, potentially changing the scope of their application for industrial and environmental purposes sustained.
