School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Seminar Series Presents “Developing the First Cold-Setting Wood 3D-Printing System for Building Construction” Presented by Dr. Michael R. Maughan

About the event

Presented by
Dr. Michael R. Maughan, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Idaho

Abstract
This presentation describes our experience developing a thermosetting wood-based composite for 3D printing of housing and light-commercial building applications. This novel composite utilizes minimally processed wood fibers with an inorganic binder and is cured in a variety of modes, including at room-temperature. When the binder cures, it sequesters carbon dioxide, thereby reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide and helping to mitigate climate change. The rheological properties of the material are acceptable for extrusion and when cured, produce a material with strength and stiffness on par with concrete used in these applications. An embodied energy analysis comparing this material and fabrication process to other construction methods will also be discussed along with the short-term outlook for this research.

Biography
Dr. Michael R. Maughan is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering. He earned his Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from Purdue University 2015. Prior to joining the academic ranks, he worked in industry at both Fortune-50 and startup companies as a mechanical designer and engineering manager. He holds five utility patents. His research expertise is in material behavior and properties, particularly microstructure-properties relationships for advanced manufacturing processes. His work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed mechanical engineering and materials journals including Journal of Materials Research, International Journal of Plasticity, Materials Research Letters, and the ASME Journal of Electronic Packaging. He currently serves as guest editor for the Forest Products Journal. At the University of Idaho, he developed a popular new course on manufacturing, and has been active in reimagining several existing courses for the digital learning era. From 2015-2022, he was the faculty advisor for the University of Idaho ASME student section and has led numerous infrastructure projects within the Mechanical Engineering Department. In 2015 he received the Estus H. and Vashti L. Magoon Award for excellence in graduate teaching at Purdue University and was named Outstanding Early Career Faculty by the University of Idaho College of Engineering in 2022.