Farzad Gholami
Advisor: Prof. H. Jerry Qi

will propose a doctoral thesis entitled,

Advanced Polymer Materials for Additive Manufacturing: 

Programmable g-DLP 3D Printing and Circular Material Systems

On

Thursday, November 19 at 2:00 p.m.
MRDC 4211

and

 https://gatech.zoom.us/j/91461079813 

Committee

Prof. H. Jerry Qi – School of Materials Science and Engineering (advisor)

Prof. Rampi Ramprasad – School of Materials Science and Engineering

Prof. Karl Jacob – School of Materials Science and Engineering

Prof. Yuhang Hu – School of Mechanical Engineering

Prof. Will Gutekunst – School of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Abstract

Polymer additive manufacturing has advanced rapidly in geometric complexity, processing capability, and functional integration. However, important limitations remain in programming spatially varying properties within a single material and in improving the circularity of polymers used for 3D printing. My research addresses these challenges through two directions focused on grayscale digital light processing (g-DLP) and sustainable polymer systems for additive manufacturing. The first direction uses g-DLP to locally control photopolymerization and program variations in degree of cure, crosslink density, mechanical properties, and electrical conductivity within a single resin. Grayscale-controlled curing produces conductivity differences of approximately three orders of magnitude, enabling direct fabrication of embedded circuits and mechanical sensors without material exchange during printing. Because these functions rely on partially cured regions, their stability after printing is a critical challenge. A post-printing radical-scavenger treatment is developed to suppress continued polymerization under light and thermal exposure and preserve the programmed mechanical and functional contrast. The second direction addresses material circularity through both reuse of existing plastic waste and design of chemically recyclable polymers. Commodity plastic waste is cryogenically milled and incorporated into photocurable resins, with recycled powder contents reaching approximately 38.5 wt% through heated-vat processing and dual curing. A complementary δ-lactone polyester platform is developed using δ-dodecalactone and δ-valerolactone, with polymer architecture tailored for DLP, direct ink writing, and fused filament fabrication. The printed materials retain a depolymerizable polyester backbone and enable approximately 94–97% monomer recovery across the different printing methods. These studies develop new routes for controlling functionality during printing while also addressing material use and end-of-life recovery in polymer additive manufacturing.