Science & Technology
3D Printed Color-Changing Material Holds Potential for Information Storage
3D printing grows more sophisticated every day. The technology is capable of producing items that change shape and even move, in experiments that still seem like something out of science fiction. Now University of Nottingham researchers have developed a 3D printed...
Prellis Biologics Reaches Record Speed and Resolution in Viable 3D Printed Human Tissue
Last year, startup Prellis Biologics made a big announcement: it had successfully 3D printed blood vessels, creating scaffolding that contained microvascular structures. The company is one of a growing list of organizations aiming for the goal of 3D printing...
China Uses DLP Technology to 3D Print Ceramics in Microgravity
Two years ago, China made big news when it tested a 3D printer in zero gravity. The country’s work in microgravity 3D printing has been progressing since then, and today it was announced that scientists at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space...
Using 3D Printing to Sample the Ocean Floor
When we think of biodiversity, we may think of forests with wildly differing species of birds, insects and other animals, or seas with wide varieties of fish. Sometimes biodiversity is easily visible in these larger species, but often it can only be measured on a very...
Novel 3D Bioprinting Technique Offers Hope for Degenerative Diseases
So many conditions can affect people as they age, and when we think of degenerative diseases, we often think of bone-related conditions like osteoporosis and arthritis, or neurological disorders like Parkinson’s. But degenerative conditions of the muscles and...
The Foam Printing Project Part Two: 3D Printing to Lightweight All the Things
MIT research specialist Matthew Pearlson is the founder of The Foam Printing Project, an innovative advance building on his idea to use additive manufacturing and lightweight foam for the creation of lighter-weight structures so the world could use less fuel. In part...
The Foam Printing Project Part One: Lower-Cost, Lighter-Weight SLA 3D Printing with Foam
In addition to gathering together the latest technologies and materials, 3D printing industry events offer invaluable networking opportunities; the people often make the event, and that goes just as much for fellow attendees as it does for keynotes and scheduled...
MIT's 3D Printable Magnetic Ink Creates Rapidly Shape-Sifting Objects
Often, when we’re dealing with 3D printed shape-shifting structures, they move when responding to different temperatures. But the innovative engineers at MIT, who have prior experience with using 3D printing to create shape-shifting materials, have developed a...
Reconstructing the Extinct Cave Lion through 3D Printing
The Slovak National Uprising Museum (SNP) is located in Banská Bystrica in the middle of a grassy park. The unusual building holds displays and important archival materials related to the development of Slovakia, particularly from the war years of 1938 – 1945....
3D Printing Viscous Materials: Advances Toward 3D Printed Rocket Fuel, Pharmaceuticals, Cookie Dough
A 3D printed object has to be able to support the weight of its own layers, as objects that are too fluid can collapse under their own weight. That’s why it can be so difficult to 3D print with viscous materials. A fluid’s viscosity is a measure of its...
Reducing High Porosity and Improving Sealing Properties in Extrusion-Based 3D Printing
While there’s been a lot of ongoing research into what causes structural defects (porosity) and other flaws in metal 3D printed parts, let’s not forget that 3D printed objects made with other kinds of materials can also suffer from issues. A small team of...
Sandia National Laboratories Develops Modular Robot for Rapid Testing of 3D Printed Parts
Sandia National Laboratories has been busy and inventive lately, taking a whole new approach to 3D printing recently with the creation of a telescope. Now the lab is looking at the testing of 3D printed parts. Sandia has created a six-sided work cell that resembles a...
Collaborative Research Team Develops Bioresin for DLP 3D Printing for Synthesizing Tissue
In typical biofabrication and 3D bioprinting methods, layers of cell-laden hydrogel structures called bioinks are extruded to build functioning biological tissues. But using bioresins laden with cells, instead of bioinks, for lithography bioprinting methods, like...
Virginia Tech Researchers Develop New Microscale, Multimaterial 3D Printing Method
A team of researchers from Virginia Tech University have developed a new method of microscale 3D printing, which uses in-situ resin mixing and robotics to 3D print multimaterial with programmed stiffness – without cross contaminating any of the properties. The...
Researchers Develop Multimaterial Voxel-3D Printing Method For More Direct Data to Object Translation
Modern approaches to physical visualization and data representations still mostly use a 2D display of 3D data sets on planar computer screens, which doesn’t always present the best results. A specific research area, known as data or physical visualization, has...
Novel Approach to Optimizing Soft Material 3D Printing Detailed in New Research Paper
When it comes to 3D printing materials, from metals and self-folding plastics to biomaterials like soft tissue, the researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) know their stuff. Now, a research team from the university’s College of Engineering has created a...
3D Printed Swimming Soft Robot Uses Shape Memory Polymers to Paddle Forwards and Backwards
In November, researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) published a study that explained how shape memory polymers can be the catalyst for making adaptable materials that will return to their original shape once heated, which...
TU Delft's Multi-Axis Robotic 3D Printing System Makes it Possible to Print Without Supports
August 12-16 in Vancouver, SIGGRAPH 2018, the world’s largest computer graphics and interactive techniques conference, will kick off five days of interesting programming and exhibitions. Many research teams from around the world showcase the results of their...
Critical Materials Institute Develops Less Expensive 3D Printed Magnets
3D printing is an eclectic technology, used for applications in almost every industry you can think of. It has come a long way from simply being able to make things out of plastic or pure metal, and has begun to be used to make materials with special properties such...
Researchers Develop Stretchable, High-Resolution, Biocompatible Hydrogels for 3D Printing
Hydrogels are hydrophilic networks of polymeric chains that can retain a large amount of water. They are commonly used in applications ranging from soft robotics to bioprinting, and have proved useful in other applications that require a large amount of deformation,...
Bitmap-Based 3D Printing to Create Highly Detailed Anatomical Models
Doctors need MRI and CT scans to further evaluate, and diagnose, medical conditions. These scans produce high-resolution images in a series of slices which show the details of structures in a person’s body and can later be 3D printed into a detailed physical...
LENS Technology Used in New One-Step Process for 3D Printing Multimaterial Structures
Laser engineering net shaping (LENS), a patented, hybrid additive manufacturing technology developed by Optomec, is most often used for high-value metal 3D printing. It can also be added onto existing CNC equipment, to repair parts using 3D printing. Now, a research...
Newcastle University Researchers Successfully 3D Print Human Corneas from Stem Cell Bioink
The outermost layer of the eye, the cornea, is very important in terms of focusing vision, as it allows us to see while light passes through to the retina. But with 10 million people around the world needing surgery that can prevent corneal blindness resulting from...
Sandia National Laboratories Looks at 3D Printing a Telescope in a New Way
Sandia National Laboratories likes to 3D print in big ways. The US Department of Energy contractor has impressed with 3D printed wind turbine blade molds, 3D printed solar power receivers, and more. Most recently, Sandia National Laboratories has taken on a project to...
LLNL Provides Update on Collaborative Research into Why Flaws Occur in Metal 3D Printing Processes
While the potential that metal 3D printing has to truly shake things up in the manufacturing world is great, it’s not without its faults. Many facilities are putting forth significant resources to determine why flaws in metal 3D printed parts occur, and how to...
