Vanillin-Based Resin for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Stereolithography (SLA) is a well-established additive manufacturing (AM) technique that allows a resin to be photopolymerized into high resolution parts with rapid production times. Vanillin, a naturally occurring molecule as well as a derivative easily obtained from biomass, including lignin, can be used as a building block for vinyl ester resins (VERs) and AM-ready materials. A vanillin-based VER, prepared via a 100% atom efficient and solventless technique, was investigated for AM applications due to its low viscosity and demonstrated ability to photopolymerize. The resin was additively manufactured via SLA and the effect of postprocessing after printing was investigated. The extent of cure between the printed and postprocessed samples was found to have the highest effect on polymer properties, increasing extent of cure by approximately 23%. With postprocessing, the printed material was shown to have a glass transition temperature (T g ) of 153 °C and Young’s modulus of 4900 MPa, comparable to the same resin cured via traditional thermal techniques. This resin system has the potential to be used as a standalone high strength and high T g material for SLA. Furthermore, the resin system also has potential as a formulation base for tunable SLA cure characteristics and final desired printed polymer properties while retaining significant biobased content.

Sustainable Photopolymers in 3D Printing: A Review on Biobased, Biodegradable, and Recyclable Alternatives

“…Lignin derivates, such as vanillin, have been applied in SLA as well. [ 32 ] Vanillin was firstly methacrylated and mixed with glycerol dimethacrylate in an equimolar ratio. The resulting photopolymer resin exhibited a biobased content of only 35%.…”

UV-Curable Bio-Based Polymers Derived from Industrial Pulp and Paper Processes

“…Bassett et al synthetized a bio-based resin using vanillin-based monomers for SLA techniques [ 64 ]. They used methacrylated vanillin (MV) as a monomer, and glycerol dimethacrylate (GDM) as a cross-linker.…”

3D printing of lignin: Challenges, opportunities and roads onward

“…Likewise, Stanzione and coworkers showed that photocurable resins based on vanillin could be used for SLA. [ 64 ] These resins have low viscosity, are derived from acetylation of vanillin using methacrylic anhydride, and the objects printed with them have thermal and mechanical properties that support their use as high‐strength and high‐Tg resins. Although these examples do not use lignin as a resin component, these results support the conclusion that chemical modification of lignin through acetylation of hydroxyl groups is one methodology that successfully enhances dispersion and performance properties of the resulting resins and printed objects.…”