Chemistry Seminar - Functional Polymers for 3D Printing

Functional Polymers for 3D Printing: Balancing Reactivity with RheologyDr. Timothy LongProfessorVirginia TechAbstract:Additive manufacturing (AM, commonly termed 3D printing) offers immense promise for emerging technologies with unprecedented control of geometric complexity and multi-material functionality. However, advanced manufacturing processes demand advanced polymeric materials. This lecture will describe the introduction of various functionality, ranging from charged sulfonates and star-shaped polymers to acrylates and thiol-enes for diverse AM platforms. Water-soluble star-shaped poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) architectures serve as binders in jetting processes of tablets for personalized dosage pharmaceuticals. The star-shaped architecture enables higher solution concentrations that provide more mechanically robust tablets. Tuning molecular weight of functionalized polyimides allows tailored molecular weight polyimide precursors for both lithographic and direct-ink-write processes. 3-dimensional polyimide structures with high thermal and mechanical performance will impact aerospace, automotive, and electronics industries. Our most recent attention is focused on the printing of elastomers, including lithographic printing of telechelic hydrogenated poly (1,3-butadiene) oligomers to functionalized rubber latex particles. This lecture will provide a chemist’s perspective on fundamental structure-property-processing relationships that will enable predictability for accelerating the impact of additive manufacturing.Speaker Bio:Tim received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Virginia Tech under the direction of Prof. James McGrath, and he subsequently joined both Eastman Kodak and Eastman Chemical companies for eight years upon graduation. He joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry in 1999 and is now a Professor of Chemistry with an interdisciplinary research group of 20 members. He currently serves as the Director of the Macromolecules Innovation Institute at Virginia Tech, which boasts an internationally recognized polymer program of over 60 affiliated faculty and 110 graduate students involved in diverse areas of polymer science and engineering. His research awards include the 2015 Virginia Scientist of the Year, 2010 Virginia Tech Alumni Research Award, ACS PMSE Collaborative Research Award, Dalquist Award from the Adhesion Society, 2019 ACS Rubber Division Thermoplastic Elastomer Award, and the ACS POLY Mark Scholar Award. He has served as the Chair of the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry, Chair of the Gordon Research Conference in Polymers, and he currently serves as the President of the Adhesion Society. He is a member of advisory boards for leading journals, and he was recently appointed as Editor-in-Chief of Polymer International.