Print or Perish

ORAL

Abstract

How small can embedded 3D printing go? Extruded filaments perish due to capillary breakup, but a suspending bath material with a yield stress can resist this failure and enable printing…to a point. Here we experimentally identify the stability criteria that sets the minimum diameter of a Newtonian liquid filament embedded into a viscoplastic yield stress fluid [1], and then beat this limit with a new technique that we call embedded 3D printing by solvent exchange (3DPX) [2].

[1] Hossain et al. Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics (2025) DOI: 10.1016/j.jnnfm.2025.105440

[2] Eom et al. Nature Communications (2025) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-55972-1

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Publication: 1. Hossain M. T., W. Eom, A. Shah, A. Lowe, D. Fudge, S. H. Tawfick, and R. H. Ewoldt,
"The critical plastocapillary number for a Newtonian liquid filament embedded into
a viscoplastic fluid,"
Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, 343, 105440 (2025).
2. Eom, W., M. T. Hossain, V. Parasramka, J. Kim, R. W. Y. Siu, K. A. Sanders, D. Piorkowski, A. Lowe, H. G. Koh, M. F. L. De Volder, D. S. Fudge, R. H. Ewoldt and S. H. Tawfick,
"Fast 3D printing of fine, continuous, and soft fibers via embedded solvent exchange,"
Nature Communications, 16, 842 (2025).

Presenters

  • Randy H Ewoldt

    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Authors

  • Mohammad Tanver Hossain

    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • Wonsik Eom

    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  • Douglas Fudge

    Chapman University

  • Sameh H Tawfick

    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  • Randy H Ewoldt

    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign