Characterization of Triangular Tungsten Carbide Lattices Material Properties and Structural Changes in Manufacturing With Sustainable Materials

Robocasting is the process of printing with pastes to form an additively manufactured structure. Common materials that are printed with robocasting are ceramic slurries, clays, and composite pastes. Here we present the robocasting of a water-based composite paste featuring tungsten oxide nanoparticles and a mixture of biopolymers. The goal is obtaining tungsten carbide lattices after reacting the tungsten reduced from the oxide with the carbon originated from the heat treatment of the biopolymers. The entire process is as follows: prepare composite paste, robocast desired lattices, dry the printed lattices, and heat treat lattices at high temperature. Here, we report on selected parameters of the robocasting process and their impact in the additive manufacture of triangular lattices. Selected mechanical and electrical properties of these samples were also measured. We aim at enabling the creation of sustainable, architected electrically conductive structures able to be used as structural components in applications such as catalysis and energy.