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New 3D Printable Polymer Has Human-Tissue-Like Properties https://ift.tt/3svYK9C A team working out of University of California at Santa Barbara has found a way to 3D print with so-called “bottlebrush” elastomers, or molecules with long “backbones” of polymers with linking polymers hanging off them. This discovery is particularly useful because the material has a novel texture: soft and elastic, much like human tissue. Right now, bottlebrush polymers can only be produced by more time-consuming simple molding procedures. A study published earlier this month in Science Advances might change that, however. Postdoctoral researcher Sanjoy Mukherjee discovered a new polymer by accident: a semi-soft solid that holds its shape, but will go liquid at room temperature in response to pressure (otherwise known as a yield stress fluid). This reaction is reversible, meaning that it can be liquified to pass through a syringe, and then become solid again on the other side. This property comes from the bottlebrush polymers “self-assembling” into a solid with bonds weak enough that they’ll yield under pressure. The bottlebrush polymer has very unique properties. “The modulus of our material is a thousand times smaller than that of a rubber band,” said Xie. “It is super-soft—it feels very much like human tissue—and very stretchy. It can stretch about three to four times its length.” Just as remarkably, the material is soft and stretchy without the need for water or solvents. “People often add solvent to liquify a solid so that it can be squeezed out of a nozzle,” Xie added, “but if you add solvent, it has to evaporate after printing, causing the object to change its shape or crack.” Printing via 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing https://3dprint.com February 26, 2021 at 07:32AM
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