August 5, 2014 – Reformulated plant matter could be at the roots of a revolution in 3-D printing projected to hit $5.2 billion by 2020. Soydan Ozcan, a researcher in Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Carbon and Composite Group, leads a team that is testing plant material that has been reformed into neatly woven nanoscale crystals and fibers. Mixed with various plastics, including those that are bio-based, these needle-like crystals can produce feedstock polymers for 3-D printers with stiffness improvements already a factor of three over widely used structural materials. They are also less expensive and mostly biodegradable. Potential applications include fuel-efficient car parts, batteries, packaging and building materials, furniture, disposable electronics and bulletproof suits.
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