A Review on Sustainability Improvements in 3D Printing Materials

Background: As the ecological environment deteriorates, manufacturing and construction, as major industries that consume energy and cause environmental degradation, urgently need a new technology that is more efficient and sustainable. 3D printing has become a suitable choice for the manufacturing and construction industries to solve sustainability problems and environmental pollution problems due to its lower material consumption and no need for templates. Objective: Through the analysis of the research status of sustainable improvement of 3D printing materials, scattered research is reviewed, valuable conclusions are extracted from representative studies, and future research directions are predicted. Methods: Researches on sustainable improvement of 3D printing materials are compared and summarized, sustainable materials that can be used to replace existing materials are described, and the performance changes of samples after material improvement are summarized. Results: By tracking the impact of the substitution of various sustainable materials on the sample, the main problems in the current study are analyzed, including the degradation of sample performance and increased cost. On the premise of solving the above problems, the sustainable improvement of 3D printing materials in the future is prospected. Conclusion: Improving the sustainability of 3D printing materials can help improve the environmental benefits of 3D printing. Therefore, this article has compared and summarized previous studies, described the available sustainable materials, and summarized the impact of various types of material substitution on samples. Considering the shortcomings of existing research, a more comprehensive evaluation of sample performance, specific quantitative assessment of environmental benefits, and expansion of indicators for evaluating environmental benefits are the key research directions in the future.