RT Journal Article T1 Effect of Cellulose Nanofibers’ Structure and Incorporation Route in Waterborne Polyurethane–Urea Based Nanocomposite Inks A1 Larraza, Izaskun A1 Vadillo, Julen A1 Calvo-Correas, Tamara A1 Tejado, Alvaro A1 Martin, Loli A1 Arbelaiz, Aitor A1 Eceiza, Arantxa AB In order to continue the development of inks valid for cold extrusion 3D printing, waterborne, polyurethane–urea (WBPUU) based inks with cellulose nanofibers (CNF), as a rheological modulator, were prepared by two incorporation methods, ex situ and in situ, in which the CNF were added after and during the synthesis process, respectively. Moreover, in order to improve the affinity of the reinforcement with the matrix, modified CNF was also employed. In the ex situ preparation, interactions between CNFs and water prevail over interactions between CNFs and WBPUU nanoparticles, resulting in strong gel-like structures. On the other hand, in situ addition allows the proximity of WBPUU particles and CNF, favoring interactions between both components and allowing the formation of chemical bonds. The fewer amount of CNF/water interactions present in the in situ formulations translates into weaker gel-like structures, with poorer rheological behavior for inks for 3D printing. Stronger gel-like behavior translated into 3D-printed parts with higher precision. However, the direct interactions present between the cellulose and the polyurethane–urea molecules in the in situ preparations, and more so in materials reinforced with carboxylated CNF, result in stronger mechanical properties of the final 3D parts. SN 2073-4360 YR 2022 FD 2022-11 LA eng NO Larraza , I , Vadillo , J , Calvo-Correas , T , Tejado , A , Martin , L , Arbelaiz , A & Eceiza , A 2022 , ' Effect of Cellulose Nanofibers’ Structure and Incorporation Route in Waterborne Polyurethane–Urea Based Nanocomposite Inks ' , Polymers , vol. 14 , no. 21 , 4516 . https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14214516 NO Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. NO Financial support from the Basque Country Government in the frame of Grupos Consolidados (IT-1690-22) and Elkartek KK19-00048 is gratefully acknowledged. We also acknowledge the “Macrobehavior-Mesostructure-Nanotechnology” SGIker unit from the UPV/EHU for their technical support. Financial support from the Basque Government (Grupos Consolidados (IT-1690-22), Elkartek (KK19-00048)) is acknowledged. DS TECNALIA Publications RD 29 sept 2024