Nottingham University develops new plastic coating to advance 3D printing

The research team from Nottingham’s School of Chemistry and Faculty of Engineering used supercriticial carbon dioxide to create an ‘efficient and clean’ process to coat PA-12 polymer particles used in a 3D printing process.

The researchers said they have successfully demonstrated that the coatings can add colour and anti-mould and fungal properties to the printing process.

Currently, one of the most common commercial 3D printing techniques is powder bed fusion or laser sintering. In this process a layer of free-flowing polymer powder is laid down and a laser is guided by a computer generated design to melt the powder layer-by-layer.

A new layer of powder is applied to the previous layer and once again the laser melts the powder together whilst simultaneously anchoring it to the layer below. This process continues until the designed part is complete, often consisting of thousands of layers.

The strong plastic polyamide-12 (PA12) is often used in the 3D printing industry to print complex and detailed parts, commonly deployed in the automotive or aerospace industries, which the research team aimed to make more functional through their new coating process.