Researchers use architected auxetics to achieve 300 times more flexibility in new 3D printing design
There are young children celebrating the holidays this year with their families, thanks to the 3D-printed medical devices created in the lab of Georgia Tech researcher Scott Hollister. For more than 10 years, Hollister and his collaborators have developed lifesaving, patient-specific airway splints for babies with rare birth defects.
These personalized Airway Support Devices are made of a biocompatible polyester called polycaprolactone (PCL), which has the advantage of being approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Researchers use selective laser sintering to heat the powdered polyester, which binds together as a solid structure. Devices made of PCL have a great safety record when implanted into patients.
Unfortunately, PCL has the disadvantage of having relatively stiff and linear mechanical properties, which means this promising biomaterial has yet to be applied functionally to some other critical biomedical needs, such as soft tissue engineering. How do you make a firm thermoplastic into something flexible, and possibly capable of growing with the patient? Hollister's lab has figured out how.
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Mariko Kusumoto: Sea Garden (2021)
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Sunday Dau photographed by Zheng Ma for Polyester Zine
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David Lynch “who gives a fuckin’ shit how long a scene is?” vs John Waters “if the movie’s too long, cut it” fight to the death
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New biobased recyclable polyesters exhibit excellent tensile properties beyond polyethylene and polypropylene
The research group of Professor Kotohiro Nomura, Tokyo Metropolitan University, in cooperation with the research group of Director Hiroshi Hirano, Osaka Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology, has developed biobased polyesters from inedible plant resources, which can be easily chemical recyclable and exhibit promising mechanical properties in films than commodity plastics.
The work has been published in ACS Macro Letters.
The development of high-performance, sustainable, recyclable plastics is important for the creation of a circular economy. Biobased polyesters made from plant resources are expected to become a promising alternative to commodity polymers such as polyethylene and polypropylene produced from petroleum. However, there have been few examples of the development of high-performance materials that exceed required mechanical properties such as tensile strength and elongation at break.
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Mariko Kusumoto: Seascape (2021)
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Quenlin Blackwell photographed by Yana Van Nuffel for Polyester Zine
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