3D Printing News Unpeeled: Space Sensors, Ocular Prostheses and The Embrace

Nicholas Puls makes 10 silicone eye sockets with ocular prostheses in it each year as well as a 100 artificial eyes for Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH). The sockets were previously also 3D printed using silicone elsewhere but now his hospital is experimenting 3D printing the eyes themselves. They base the design on scans of the remaining eye and print them on Stratasys equipment. 

The 6 by 8 meter Hank Willis Thomas’ sculpture of The Embrace shows Martin Luther King Jr. embrace his wife Coretta Scott King. The statue was made with 608 parts made on a Voxeljet VX1000 in PMMA that were cast.

Velo3D sold two systems to Avio, an Italian developer of space propulsion and launcher systems. One is a Sapphire and the other is a Sapphire XC 1MZ, they’re for nickel super alloy space propulsion parts. Avio makes P120 rocket stage for the Ariane C, the Vega E first stage and a booster for the Ariane 6. This embeds Velo in the major space launcher developments in Europe.

ESA has made a 3D printed strain sensor using aerosol jet and powder bed fusion. CSEM did the work and proved out mass, volume and part count reduction on sensors with flexible pivots and hinges. CSEM also tested the sensors without degradation 200 and 5000 cycles.