100th Anniversary of Macromolecular Science Viewpoint: Integrating Chemistry and Engineering to Enable Additive Manufacturing with High-Performance Polymers

Additive manufacturing (AM) with high-performance polymers (HPPs) represents simultaneously one of the most desirable and challenging feats in the AM arena. The very properties that make HPPs so attractive in a broad range of applications also make them nearly impossible to process using common AM equipment. Furthermore, when AM is achieved, it often brings the caveat of compromised mechanical properties of the final parts, in comparison with those made via injection molding. The demand to have advanced fabrication methods, rapid prototyping, and customization of parts while maintaining high performance in the finished products has inspired creative innovations that integrate chemical synthesis, materials science, mechanical engineering, and other fields into a multidisciplinary approach to advance AM with the seemingly unprintable HPPs. In this Viewpoint, we summarize several standout developments in the area and offer our perspective on future directions and challenges.