In Sweden, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have created a 3D printer ink made from wood.
Professor Paul Gatenholm led the work at Chalmers’ Wallenberg Wood Science Centre. The ink “allows us to move beyond the limits of nature, to create new sustainable, green products,” he tells 3D Printing Industry. “This means that those products which today are already forest-based can now be 3D printed, in a much shorter time. And the metals and plastics currently used in 3D printing can be replaced with a renewable, sustainable alternative.”
Genetic coding was used to tweak the characteristics of the wood to achieve ideal breathability, minimal density, and honeycomb structures. Gatenholm had previously made 3D printing ink from cellulose.