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Updated: Nov 19, 2025
Novel Process for 3D Printing Decellularized Matrices
Published on: January 7, 2019
From brown to colored: Polylactic acid composite with micro/nano-structured white spent coffee grounds for
Sheng Li1, Congcan Shi1, Shenghong Sun1
1State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, School of Light Industry and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
Abstract:
Functional fillers in three-dimensional (3D) printing composite filaments offer an innovative way spent coffee grounds (SCGs) can be reused. However, the inherent brownness of SCGs places a limit on the color in which the composite filament and, consequently, the finished print appears. Herein, colored composite filaments for fused deposition modeling were successfully fabricated, where micro/nano-structured decolorized SCGs (MN-DSCGs) were embedded within polylactic acid (PLA) matrix. At the optimum condition, the 3D prints using composite filaments exhibit comparable tensile and flexural strength to the PLA counterparts. Also, they demonstrate superior melt flow and excellent print quality. Under the same condition, 3D printed MN-DSCGs/PLA blend has sufficient color restoration as compared to the prints using virgin PLA.
