AEI AMUEBLA has presented the results of the READDITIVE project following the validation of a new recycled material suitable for 3D printing.
Rapid prototyping technologies through additive manufacturing are increasingly used in the furniture sector; we can see its strong irruption, in particular, with the fused wire printing technology (FDM or FFF). But this upward trend in the use of 3D printing brings with it some negative consequences such as waste generation. Many of the printed prototypes are discarded, either because it is a test that does not give a valid result or because its useful life by its very nature of prototype, is not very long. Not to mention what is known as support material, which is a kind of structure that supports the part during the printing process and is discarded at the end.
Faced with this problem and the need to help the companies that make up the AMUEBLA cluster on their way to environmental sustainability, the READDITIVE project has focused on the research and development of a new plastic material in the form of filament, suitable for FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) additive manufacturing technology. The key to the project is that this new material is obtained from the plastic waste and scrap generated during the normal use of this 3D printing technology.
From the product engineering department, a group of experts has worked on the analysis of the typology and quantity of waste produced in the companies of the sector, as well as the techniques involved in the process of obtaining recycled plastic. Thanks to previous studies, we have come to know the behavior of the materials in the different processes involved in their recycling, such as crushing and polishing. In this way, we have obtained a filament material suitable for laboratory validation tests.
READDITIVE has also been tested in industrial processes thanks to the collaboration of the companies ACOMODEL and FORMAS DESCANSO, which have used the new material in real parts of their daily work to verify that the recycled filament created is valid.
The READDITIVE project is being developed within the framework of the call for AEIs launched in 2021 by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, and financed with EU Next Generation funds.
