Résumé
Additive manufacturing (AM) is a method of production that greatly reduces the volume of waste material produced. The use of biobased materials that are sourced from biomass feedstocks (such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA)) for AM applications is key to reducing our impact on the environment and contributing to a societal shift towards a circular bioeconomy. However, such materials are not easily employed with current AM technologies due to the technological limitations of the materials. Their mechanical properties are often poorer than those of petroleum-based materials, which limits their applications. Therefore, there is a need for new biobased composites with improved mechanical properties, which are also suitable for AM technologies. Formulating and/or reinforcing materials with different fillers, such as lignocellulosic powders, has been used to improve the mechanical properties of biobased materials. Among existing AM techniques, powdered additive manufacturing, such as selective laser sintering (SLS), has been widely developed due to many advantages: high accuracy and resolution, speed, reliability, and reduced dependency on support structures. In the present work, we have developed a new environmentally friendly process to prepare composite biobased powders from PHA, waxes and lignocellulosic filler suitable for SLS. The process, based on emulsification and dissolution/precipitation in eutectic solvents, appears to be nonspecific and can be adapted to a wide range of PHAs, biobased waxes and lignocellulosic biomasses. Results have shown that the combination of such raw materials improves the properties of the composite powders for implementation in SLS applications.