Additive manufacturing of cellulose-based materials with continuous, multidirectional stiffness gradients
Functionally graded materials (FGM) allow diverse applications in multidisciplinary fields from biomedicine to architecture. However, their fabrication can be tedious relative to gradient continuity, interfacial bending and directional freedom. Most commercial design software does not include property gradient data—hindering the exploration of design space suited for FGMs. In a new report on Science Advances, Pedro A.G.S. Giachini and a research team in architecture and urban planning, physical intelligence and medicine, in the U.S., Germany and Turkey designed a combined approach of materials engineering and digital processing. The method facilitated extrusion-based multimaterial, additive manufacturing of cellulose-based, tunable viscoelastic materials.