Abstract
Three-dimensional (3D) printing has emerged as an attractive manufacturing technique because of its exceptional freedom in accessing geometrically complex customizable products. Its potential for mass manufacturing, however, is hampered by its low manufacturing efficiency (print speed) and insufficient product quality (mechanical properties). Recent progresses in ultra-fast 3D printing of photo-polymers1,2,3,4,5 have alleviated the issue of manufacturing efficiency, but the mechanical performance of typical printed polymers still falls far behind what is achievable with conventional processing techniques. This is because of the printing requirements that restrict the molecular design towards achieving high mechanical performance. Here we report a 3D photo-printable resin chemistry that yields an elastomer with tensile strength of 94.6 MPa and toughness of 310.4 MJ m−3, both of which far exceed that of any 3D printed elastomer6,7,8,9,10. Mechanistically, this is achieved by the dynamic covalent bonds in the printed polymer that allow network topological reconfiguration. This facilitates the formation of hierarchical hydrogen bonds (in particular, amide hydrogen bonds), micro-phase separation and interpenetration architecture, which contribute synergistically to superior mechanical performance. Our work suggests a brighter future for mass manufacturing using 3D printing.
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All relevant data are available from the corresponding author upon request. Source data are provided with this paper.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. U23A2098, 22288102, 52033009, 22375176 and 52103292). We thank L. Xu and S. Jie for performing the DSC and gel permeation chromatography test at the State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering (Zhejiang University) and L. Hou from Donghua University for the discussion on the 2D-COS analyses.
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T.X., J.W. and Z.F. conceived the concept; T.X., J.W. and Z.F. wrote the paper; Z.F. designed the experiments; Z.F., H.M., Z.S. and J.C. conducted the experiments; K.Z. and X.Y. conducted the simulation; A.Z. and F.L. performed the SAXS analysis; and N.Z. and Q.Z. participated in the discussion. All authors discussed the results.
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Zhejiang university are in the process of applying for a patent application covering photo-curable resins for 3D printing that lists Z.F., J.W. and T.X. as inventors.
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Fang, Z., Mu, H., Sun, Z. et al. 3D printable elastomers with exceptional strength and toughness. Nature 631, 783–788 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07588-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07588-6
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