An overview on the opportunities for 3D printing with bio-based materials

3D printing or Rapid Prototyping has become an important digital manufacturing technology in the 21st century, which will play a huge role in implementing Industry 4.0 strategy. Over the past 20 years, significant advancement has been made in printing process design, printing materials, print quality monitoring and applications. One of the major challenges in popularising 3D printing in wider manufacturing industries is the limited choice of materials. Until recently only a handful of polymeric materials have found commercial applications. However, in recent years, many materials, which are once thought to be non-printable, have emerged as potential candidates to enable the future application ranges such as food material, concrete, composite, shape-memory materials or even biological cells. Bio-based materials include both biological and bio-derived materials. They have emerged as an important raw material to produce 3D objects for different biomedical, food and textile applications through 3D printing technologies. This chapter provides an overview of the prospects of using bio-based materials in 3D printing