TU/Delft - 3D Printing with Wood

An exploration of the possibilities of large scale additive manufacturing with wood plastic composites.

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This project is now archived and was part of DDW21

This project is part of
Sustainability at Scale(s)

Printed wood

10XL / Lorenzo Hoorn

Wood waste as a valuable fibre alternative. This project explores the opportunity to replace synthetic fibres with renewable ones in 3D printed plastic objects. Using large printers, industrial waste materials of wood and thermoplastics are crafted into unique objects bearing a sustainable message.

The use of wood in large scale 3D printing

To be able to 3D print large objects from thermoplastics, the material needs to be reinforced with fibres. These fibres are often synthetic, made from glass or carbon. This research explored the possibilities of using natural fibres instead and defining the unique material and sustainability properties of printed wood fibre reinforced thermoplastics. The advantage of using wood fibres is that it is a natural and widely abundant replacement for synthetic fibres. Because the wood fibres come from industrial waste streams, like sawing and milling, the environmental impact compared to synthetic fibres is almost zero. On top of that, by using around a 60-70% of wood in the compound, the need for plastic material is reduced by half, making it even more beneficial.

Material Driven Concept

This material research project was in collaboration with 10XL with the ambition to develop a sustainable and unique 3D printing material. As a result, using wood plastic composites for this production technique creates an unparalleled material experiences. While crafting the objects with computers and machines, the material still evokes a natural feeling. The roughness and imperfections in the designs, in combination with the natural colours, is what makes this an amazing material. The vases showcase the potential of this concept and help spark ideas to scale it up.