Recycled wood can be converted into ink for 3D printing, offering a more sustainable approach to manufacturing furniture and even constructing homes. This research was recently published in Advances in Science.
Check out this cool innovation from the researchers at Rice University! They've figured out a way to use leftover wood scraps to create miniature furniture through 3D printing. Muhammad Rahman, a scientist at Rice, explained that while wood has been a go-to material for centuries, it's not the most efficient. Carving it into specific shapes leads to a lot of waste.
So Rahman and his team broke down the wood into its key components, lignin and cellulose, which give wood its structure. Then, they turned these into nanofibers and nanocrystals. Mixing these components with water created a clay-like substance that could be used as ink for printing.
They used this ink to 3D print objects by layering it through a nozzle. To strengthen the printed objects, they freeze-dried them to remove moisture, then rapidly heated them to 180 degrees Celsius to soften the lignin and meld it with the cellulose.
Rahman noted, "We can mimic all the visual, textural, and olfactory properties of natural wood." In compression tests, their product proved nearly six times more durable than natural balsa wood, while in bending tests, it was three times more flexible.
So far, they've successfully created miniature furniture and honeycomb structures with this ink, but their ultimate goal is to use it for larger projects like building houses.
Rahman emphasized the need to rethink construction methods without cutting down trees. "If we can recycle waste wood using 3D printing instead of traditional manufacturing, that would be a huge leap forward."
For more details, check out their paper: link.
