3D Printing of Hierarchical Porous Materials

Reference	Presenter	Authors (Institution)	Abstract
17-085	Andre R Studart	Studart, A.R.(ETH Zurich);	Porosity is extensively exploited in natural materials as an effective means to reduce weight, minimize the use of resources, enable the transport and storage of nutrients or create high-surface area structures. Examples range from the structural elements of plants to skeletal parts of invertebrates and vertebrates, including plant leaves and stems, animal skulls, bird beaks, marine sponges and animal quills. Because porosity inevitably reduces the strength of materials, the incorporation of pores should occur with minimum impact on the mechanical performance of the load-bearing structure. To this end, porous biological materials often exploit porosity gradients at multiple length scales to generate mechanically efficient structures. The implementation of these concepts in synthetic systems remains challenging due to the lack of appropriate processing techniques that enable control over the size and distribution of pores in man-made structures. In this talk, I will present a new processing route for the 3D printing of porous structures of high mechanical efficiency through the creation of hierarchical porosity. The use of foams and emulsions as templates enables the generation of inks that are stable enough to be directly extruded into structures with hierarchical and graded porosity. Exploiting this concept in engineering applications should lead to the rational utilization of building resources, the minimization of energy demand for transportation and even the reduction of costs without impairing the targeted functionality.
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