Main goal

+ a new 3D printing technique

This is a research project: the main goal is to develop a new 3D printing technique, exploiting debris  material resulting from common marble cave operations, which would require additional costs for discarding. Such powder will be mixed with a light-sensitive polymer and fed from a custom-made 3D printer.

Why this project?

+ materials recycle

3D Marble-Eco Design was born in the marble quarries of Coreno Ausonio, in southern Lazio. Our mission is to reutilize the waste material resulting from the marbles production process. Sludge and waste are a consequence of the production system, this marble dust is complex and expensive to dispose of. But if mixed with special resins and catalysed with UV rays, these substances can be brought back to a new life and transformed in raw material ideal for 3D printing, with technically no use limitations, from architecture to design, from art and fashion to industrial purposes. This technology is capable of transforming ideas in real environment-friendly projects.

3D Marble-Eco Design aims at the ecosystems safeguard. Our basic goal is to preserve those territories where the industrial mass production is located.

Materials

+ calcium carbonate

A pure material The marble dust produced in the industrial district of Coreno Ausonio has an average density of 2.7015 g/cm3 (grams / cubic centimeter) and is made entirely of CaCO3 (calcium carbonate).

As further confirmation of its high purity, the X-ray diffraction showed no peaks attributable to different phases. The sieving and scanning electron microscopy analysis (SEM) showed the presence of particles ranging in size from a few tens of nanometers (nm) to 150 microns.

Printer

+ hybrid 3D printer

The novel hybrid 3D printer is based on the FFF technology, initially developed by Prusa. Though FFF technology is nowadays rapidly evolving, it is already been a consolidated reality for quite a long time in the 3D printing community. Nevertheless such technology shows several drawbacks, as regards printed items’ quality and precise positioning of the mechanical axes.

Among the various features of the innovative 3D printer designed by Design Lab Frosinone, several technical solutions have been purposely designed with the aim of improving the printing quality: taking advantage of specifically designed mechanical joints, it has been possible to achieve step resolutions as fine as ~0.5 μm along each of the three motion axes ( 53 μm for ten steps). The extruder features a 0.15 mm steel nozzle, capable of producing 0.16 mm drops. The final resolution of the printer is then greatly improved, as compared with a resin-marble mixture being instantly “frozen” under a beam of light, thus allowing to produce premium quality objects.

Printer and Materials

The project is based on the development of a novel hybrid FFF-light curing 3D printer, which exploits the main advantages of both technologies, without dramatically raising the overall cost of the equipment. Furthermore the system enables recycling of waste material resulting from normal marble cave operation and processing.

Marble Collective

The multidisciplinary team is made up of professionals with backgrounds in different fields. We are forming a team that has the same interests. If you want to join this group and participate in the project in some way, please contact us.