Auburn University Faculty and Fellow Scientists Look at 3-D Printing as an Option to Address Lack of Affordable Rural Housing

Several Auburn University faculty members and fellow scientists will be joining in an interdisciplinary project to address the hard-hitting reality that affordable housing is out of the reach of many Americans living in rural areas. The study, which spans the disciplines of engineering, chemistry, forest resources and architecture, also draws strongly upon the expertise of scientists at its partner institution, the University of Idaho, with Michael Maughan, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, at the helm.

The Auburn-led portion of this interdisciplinary project will focus on bio-resin development as a feedstock for 3D printing, which will be done at Idaho. This process will include conversion of biomass into chemicals and nanomaterials to help improve the sustainability of the resin. It is the teams’ hope that the research may lead to viable solutions that would have seemed futuristic mere years ago: planning advanced manufacturing that helps utilize waste biomaterials, which can then be produced through additive manufacturing — more commonly known as 3D printing — to create housing or building components.