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Material Research: using surfactant to coat powder particles

Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2017 8:07 pm
by Jurif
Hello everyone.
In recent attempts to use hydroxyapatite (material in human bone) as a 3DP printing material, I found out that it is slightly hydrophobic. By mixing a 0.1% benzenesulfonic acid solution with hydroxyapatite (approximaetly 10 micrometer grain size), then filtering, drying and grinding it, i got a material that is very promising for usage in 3DP printing. I think simmilar method could be used almost with any nanopowder (maybe it could also work on regular powders) as water causes small powder particles to arrange in best possible positions. I have also heard from some people who are very experienced with nanomaterials that you can get better compression of material using this method than using pure force. In most cases the water droplet behavior is the main problem, as powder particles can behave slightly or very hydrophobic. This can be an obstacle in 3dp as printheads produce very small droplets and these can easily stay on powder rather than being absorbed. Using a surfactant as benzenesulfonic acid prevents this problem as surfactants change surface tension of liquids. In my case using this worked as i wanted it to. If anyone wants further details of my research I can post it here. I hope someone finds this useful.