3D Printing of Biomass–Fungi Composite Material: Effects of Mixture Composition on Print Quality

Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing

Na Zou¹  Al Mazedur Rahman²  Abhinav Bhardwaj²  Xingjian Wei²  Zhijian Pei²  Matt Lucht³  David Truong⁴ 

[1] Department of Engineering Technology & Industrial Distribution, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA;Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA;Ecovative Design LLC, 70 Cohoes Avenue, Green Island, NY 12183, USA;Soft Matter Facility, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA;

关键词: biomass–fungi composite;    mycelium;    3D printing;    material extrusion;    rheology;   

DOI  :  10.3390/jmmp5040112

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

It is known that 3D printing can facilitate greater design flexibility in the printing of custom shapes for packaging and construction applications using biomass–fungi composite materials. The feasibility of this new method was demonstrated by a preliminary experiment, the results of which were reported in a journal publication in 2020. As a follow-up, this paper reports on an experimental study on the relationship between the mixture composition (i.e., the psyllium husk powder content) and print quality using this new method. Four mixtures were prepared by varying the amounts of psyllium husk powder (in grams) added to 400 mL of water. The ratios (g/mL) of psyllium husk powder weight (w_p) over volume of water (v_w) for the mixtures were 0, 1:40, 2:40, and 3:40. Each mixture also contained 100 g of biomass–fungi material and 40 g of whole wheat flour. The print quality of the samples was evaluated based on the extrudability and shape stability. The results showed that mixtures without any psyllium husk powder were not extrudable. An increase in the ratio of psyllium husk powder to water from 1:40 to 2:40 resulted in improved print quality; however, when the psyllium husk powder to water ratio was increased to 3:40, the extrudability became worse. This phenomenon was explained by analyzing the rheological properties of the mixtures.

【 授权许可】

Unknown