Digital Light Processing 3D Printing of Healable and Recyclable Polymers with Tailorable Mechanical Properties

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is becoming a revolutionary technique across various fields. Especially, digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing shows advantages of high resolution and high efficiency. However, multifunctional monomers are commonly used to meet the rapid liquid-to-solid transformation during DLP printing, and the extensive production of unreprocessable thermosets will lead to resource waste and environmental problems. Here, we report a family of dynamic polymers with highly tailorable mechanical properties for DLP printing. The dynamic polymers cross-linked by ionic bonding and hydrogen bonding endow printed objects with excellent self-healing and recycling ability. The mechanical properties of printed objects can be easily tailored from soft elastomers to rigid plastics to satisfy practical applications. Taking advantage of the dynamic cross-linking, various assembling categories, including 2D to 3D, small to large 3D structures, and same to different materials assembly, and functional devices with a self-healing capacity can be realized. This study not only helps to address environmental issues caused by traditional DLP-printed thermosets but also realizes the on-demand fabrication of complex structures.

Automated summary

Dynamic polymers cross-linked by ionic bonding and hydrogen bonding are reported for digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing. These polymers endow printed objects with excellent self-healing and recycling ability, and the mechanical properties can be easily tailored for practical applications. The dynamic cross-linking allows for various assembling categories and functional devices with a self-healing capacity to be realized.