2023 AIChE Annual Meeting

(425b) Compatible Monomers for Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization Additive Manufacturing

Authors

Leguizamon, S., University of Michigan
Stereolithographic additive manufacturing (SLA) processes provide agility and complex design development of components necessary for a wide range of critical applications. Yet this technique is limited to a small subset of monomers that traditionally produce polymer materials with poor thermal and mechanical properties. Conversely, ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) can produce relatively tough, high Tg thermosets using latent ruthenium catalysts. Furthermore, spatiotemporal control of the polymerization using photosensitizers affords high resolution patterning of high Tg thermosets using photoROMP. Dicyclopentadiene (DCPD), an inexpensive but robust photoROMP monomer, has been featured in SLA resins to generate highly complex three-dimensional geometries at print speeds approaching industry-leading standards using continuous SLA techniques. Excluding DCPD, the monomer space for photoROMP and continuous SLA resins has been relatively underexplored. In this work, we synthesized and evaluated the potential of a library of strained olefins for generating robust polymer materials using photoROMP and continuous stereolithography.