Wood furniture is usually made by sawing, carving, bending or pressing. You too know it well, that with a nice brug in your hand you reassemble those flat packs of the well-known Swedish company! Old school now.
Now scientists have discovered how to turn wooden shapes extruded by a 3D printer into complex three-dimensional objects. Objects that could be used to produce wooden furniture or other packaged products that, when dried, are “transformed” into the desired final shape.
The researchers will present their results at the autumn meeting ofAmerican Chemical Society (ACS).
A very special ink
Many plants and animals have the ability to change their shapes and structures. The wood from a felled tree can soften even after it is cut, bending its fibers in different directions as it dries. “This deformation can be an obstacle,” he explains Doron Kam of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the researcher who will present the study.
They were Sharon, Ph.D., another researcher involved in the project, says that, unlike some natural objects, man-made structures generally cannot shape themselves. In recent years, scientists have begun printing flat sheets from synthetic materials, such as gels and elastomers, that can transform into three-dimensional shapes after a change in stimuli such as temperature, pH or moisture content. I wrote a “tasty” (so to speak) post about it some time ago. The item? A “transformer pasta” that is bought flat and then changes shape once in boiling water. Find it here.
A few years ago, Sharon's team developed an eco-friendly water-based ink. It was composed of wood waste microparticles known as “wood flour” mixed with cellulose nanocrystals and xyloglucan, natural binders extracted from plants. Using a 3D printer, the researchers found that the way the ink is deposited, or the “path,” determines the morphing behavior as moisture content evaporates from the printed piece.
Self-transforming wooden furniture
In tests, a flat disc printed as a series of concentric circles dried and shrunk to form a "saddle" structure resembling a Pringles chip. A disc printed with a “spoke” pattern has transformed into a dome or cone.
Am I the only one who thinks of the word "wooden furniture"?
The researchers also found that changing the printing speed can alter the final shape of the object. The slower print aligns the particles more randomly, resulting in greater shrinkage in all directions. Faster printing produces less sharp shapes.
Further refinements will allow the team to combine saddles, domes, helixes and other design motifs to produce objects with complicated final shapes, such as a chair. Ultimately, it will be possible to create wooden furniture that is shipped flat to the end user, "opening" after an hour of opening (I'll give an example). Or license the design of the object, having it printed directly by people at home.
And IKEA changes. Or he will buy the technology, why not.
