3D Printing: Plastics and the Circular Economy
Friday, May 11, 2018
- 9:00 am – 10:00 am
(PDT)
San Francisco, LA - 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
(EDT)
Boston, New York - 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
(GMT)
London - 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
(CET)
Paris, Rome
Upcycling for circular material flow
Plastic bottles are some of the most commonly received items for recycling iniatives. Once processed, these bottles can then be upcycled into raw material used by 3D printers to create new products.
Image credit: WC / Dierk Schaefer
Join us for a series of lectures featuring materials sciences expert Prof. Rigoberto Advincula of Case Western Reserve University! Our new 2018 series with Prof. Advincula is focused on giving audiences a deeper look into various aspects of 3D printing. With applications in many fields such as manufacturing, medicine, architecture, and custom art and design, 3D printing is be at the forefront of many commercial technologies for years to come.
Our next entry in this series will be focused on how 3D printing with plastics can enable circular economies. As an approach to environmental sustainability, a circular economy is characterized by the creation of economic models where no negative impact to the environment is generated. By recycling plastics recovered from used products into new printing materials, manufacturers can leverage additive manufacturing techniques (such as 3D printing by material extrusion) that can extend the lifetime of materials that would have otherwise been prematurely treated as waste. The economic impact of creating circular material flows and "upcycled" products has the potential to disrupt the economies of multiple manufacturing sectors.
Presented by: Prof. Rigoberto Advincula
Macromolecular Science & Engineering
Case Western Reserve University
About Prof. Rigoberto Advincula Prof. Rigoberto Advincula, Director of the Petro Case Consortium, is recognized industry-wide as an expert regarding polymer and materials challenges of the oil-gas industry. He is currently a Professor with the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University and is the recipient of numerous awards including Fellow of the American Chemical Society, Herman Mark Scholar Award of the Polymer Division, and Humboldt Fellow.