Recycled wood can now be transformed into ink for 3D printing, offering a more sustainable approach to manufacturing furniture and even constructing homes. This breakthrough research was recently published in Science Advances.
Check out this mini table and chairs made from reclaimed wood using 3D printing technology. The source for the image is a study by Thakur et al., published in Sci. Adv. (2024).
Muhammad Rahman from Rice University in the USA explains that wood has been utilized for centuries in construction and structural applications. However, its use hasn't always been efficient, often resulting in significant waste due to the need to cut it to specific dimensions.
To tackle this issue, Rahman and his team broke down the leftover wood into lignin and cellulose, the key molecules responsible for the wood's rigid structure. These were then further broken down into nanofibers and nanocrystals. They recombined these components with water to create a clay-like substance that could be used as ink.
Using this substance as ink, the researchers were able to 3D print objects by layering the ink through a nozzle.
To enhance the strength of the 3D-printed objects, the team freeze-dried them to remove moisture, then rapidly heated them to 180 degrees Celsius to soften the lignin and fuse it with the cellulose.
"We can replicate all the visual, textural, and olfactory characteristics of natural wood," says Rahman. In compression tests, the durability of the product was nearly six times that of natural balsa wood, while in bending tests, its flexibility was three times that of natural balsa wood.
So far, the researchers have successfully used this ink to create miniature furniture and honeycomb structures, but they hope to eventually use it for constructing larger objects such as houses.
"We need to rethink how we construct buildings without cutting down trees," Rahman explains. "If we can recycle waste wood using 3D printing instead of traditional manufacturing, it would be a significant step forward."
For more details, you can refer to the paper at https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adk3250.
