In Search of an Effective Workability Zone during the 3D Printing of Polymeric Periodic Open Cellular Structures Potentially Useful as Microreactors

Abstract

The question of how easy the transition is between design and manufacturing by the 3D printing of periodic open cellular structures occurs from the analysis of cases in which additive manufacturing and heterogeneous catalysis merge. The synergy between these two fields suggests that one of the great advantages that the catalysis of this manufacturing methodology can take advantage of is the obtaining of advanced designs that would allow improving the processes from the geometry of the reactors. However, not all 3D-printing techniques offer the same degree of resolution, and this uncertainty grows when using more complex materials to work with, such as ceramics or metals. Therefore, the present work seeks to answer this question by finding experimentation strategies, starting with a simple case study inspired by the additive manufacturing–catalysis combination, in which a ceramic polymer resin of high thermal resistance is used to obtain POCSs that are potentially useful in thermochemical or adsorption processes. This exploration concludes on the need to define limits for what we have called an “effective work zone” that combines both design criteria and the real possibility of printing and manipulating the pieces, making sweeps in structural parameters such as cell size and the diameter of struts in the POCS. Similarly, the possibility of coating these systems with inorganic oxides is explored, using a generic oxide (Al2O3) to analyse this scenario. Finally, a cartridge-type assembly of these systems is proposed so that they can be explored in future processes by other researchers.