Porous and Antibacterial 3D filaments

During the last 2 weeks of POC21’s innovation camp we found 2 new 3D printing filaments, one porous to print membranes(Layfelt) and one that has probably a silver compound additive that kills bacteria.

We spent a lot of time during POC21 to try to print what would actually be cases in the shape of a bottle cap that could be filled with different media like activated carbon or membrane cartridges and could be screwed on top of a 0.5L or 5 liter PET bottle. However we started with the idea of making a whole filter using 3D printers. For that we researched the latest materials and techniques that are available. One idea was to get the latest resolution printers that print are a few micrometers thick layers. However compared to microfiltration or ultrafiltration membranes that have a tube shape and have pores of less than 0.2 micrometers, any 3D printer would not match this kind of resolution. But there are other techniques that in the future could become useful. We found for instance a 3d printing filament that after printing and being summerged in water, some of the additives of the filament get dissolved in water so that you end up with a soft, flexible, porous object. So in the future maybe one could print a solid object in any shape and after leaving it in water it could become a membrane. Also we found a 3d filament that with antibacterial additives in the plastic, which probably are silver based. In the future there will be a lot of new materials and printing technology that could be promising. Still for now,  the speed and reliability of 3d printing is not comparable with regular, centralized production processes like injection molding or membrane spinning.