GT70 - Abstract Preview
GT70
Symposium: S01 - General Session
Oral Presentation
 
 

Printed macroporous polymers with complex structures and shapes

Menner Angelika (1)*, Jiang Qixiang (1), Bismarck Alexander (1)

(1) University Vienna - Vienna - Austria

High and medium internal phase emulsions with a polymerisable continuous phase and an internal droplet phase serving as template are used to produce macroporous polymers. The structure of the emulsion templates can be controlled by cleverly manipulating the formulation (e.g. monomers, emulsifier and internal phase levels) and the emulsification parameters (stirring time and speed etc.). This makes this method a versatile tool to manufacture macroporous polymers with morphology, density, porosity and mechanical properties tailored to the requirements of specific applications. Here, we utilise the liquid nature of emulsion templates by using styrene-co-butadiene-co-styrene (SBS) rubber based formulations as inks during screen, 3D syringe and gravure printing to create cage pattern. Subsequent solidification of the SBS rubber via UV crosslinking in the presence of trimethylolpropane tris(3-mercaptopropionate) (TRIS) and drying did result in pinhole free cage structures with wall thicknesses ranging between 35 μm and 1000 μm. Furthermore, 3D structures consisting of multiple layers with varying morphologies have been produced by casting, screen and 3D syringe printing. The morphology of the printed macroporous polymers mainly depends on the emulsifier type; closed celled polymer foams were synthesized from particle stabilized emulsions (pore size of 30 µm) while highly interconnected macroporous polymers with pore and pore throat sizes of 3 µm and 0.5 µm, respectively, are obtained from surfactant stabilized emulsions. This demonstrates that printing is a convenient means to create 2D and 3D devices with micrometer sized shapes and patterns. Furthermore, the significantly lower waste production (no waste of emulsion template ink, removal of internal aqueous phase simply by drying, and almost no solvent required for purification) of printing compared to other methods e.g. rapid prototyping is clearly advantageous.