This National Science Foundation Project Grant of $348,579 supports research at Montana State University from June 2022 to May 2027 under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041). The award will fund development of additive manufacturing techniques for sustainable thermoplastic composites incorporating biologically derived enzymes and electrically conductive fillers.
Specifically, the university researcher will work to encapsulate heat-sensitive enzymes within 3D printing filaments to substantially retain their biological activity after thermoplastic processing. Testing will quantify thermal shielding by analyzing environmental degradability of composites additively manufactured via microfluidic material extrusion. Additionally, the project will explore processing and properties of electrically conductive components using the developed methods to hierarchically structure multi-material systems. Ultimately, the work aims to demonstrate an additively manufactured bio-based passive sensor that biodegrades in response to humidity.