4D printing technology
Chemists Streamline Techniques for 3D and 4D Printing with Multiple Materials
If your mind hasn’t been blown enough with 3D printing, bioprinting, and the potential for everything from 3D printed homes, cars, and even organs—get ready to be awed even further…
UV Assisted Direct Ink Writing of 3D Printed and “4D Printed” Shape Memory Epoxy Parts
The magic of 3D printing has touched most of us in some way by now, as schools in many countries are establishing programs, libraries offer makerspaces for patrons, and designers…
Research Team Takes Advantage of Common FFF 3D Printing Defect to 4D Print Plastic Self-Folding Objects
A lot of research has been undertaken regarding 3D printed self-folding structures and 3D printed items that can self-assemble, but a team from Carnegie Mellon University is changing things up in the…
Earwig Wings Inspire Researchers to 3D Print Multimaterial, Self-Folding Origami Elements
Many scientists have been inspired by wings, be they bat, bird, or butterfly, in their 3D printing research projects. A team of researchers from ETH Zurich and Purdue University have…
Powerful New 4D Printer Speeds Next-Generation, Next-Dimension 3D Printing
3D printed objects that can move and change shape are technically 4D printed – the fourth dimension comes in the object’s ability to change shape when exposed to environmental stimuli…
Rutgers Engineers Develop 4D Printing Method for Shape-Shifting Hydrogels
Whenever I hear the term shape-shifting, I always picture some scary creature from a horror movie that’s able to change its form instantly to capture victims and is *probably* not…
LLNL Successfully Creates 4D Printed Flexible, Stretchable Composite Silicone Materials with Shape Memory
Earlier this summer, researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) were working on using a direct ink writing (DIW) process to 3D print silicone metamaterials with shape memory behavior –…
LLNL Researchers Use Direct Ink Writing to 3D Print Silicone Metamaterials with Shape Memory Behavior
A research team from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has used a direct ink writing (DIW) process to 3D print property-specific, silicone metamaterials that possess shape memory behavior, which technically makes…
Chinese Researchers Use 4D Printing Technology to Construct Breast Implant for Cancer Patient
I’m not certain about other countries, but breast cancer is the most common type of cancer for women in the US. According to the American Cancer Society, roughly 252,710 new…
ETH Zurich Researchers Develop Load-Bearing 4D Printed Structures
While 3D printing still seems like magic for some people, the novelty has worn off for others – but I doubt that’s true for many people regarding 4D printing. 3D…
Researchers 3D Print Shape-Shifting Objects With New 4D Printing Method
A flower curls in on itself as though responding to the setting of the sun. A pattern of diamonds expands and contracts like a gate opening and closing. A flat…
New 4D Printed Composite Material is Capable of Complex Movements
By using additive manufacturing technology, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering and Clemson University have developed a new hybrid material that is capable of moving independently…
3D and 4D Printing Will Allow Clothing and Consumer Products to Think For Us
Massachusetts Institute of Technology is widely considered the epicenter of the world’s technological innovation, and nothing is more on the forefront of the future than the MIT Media Lab. At…
MIT’s New 3D Printed Future Shoe Concept Will Assemble Itself
Growing up my mother always gave me a simple bit of advice that has not only stuck with me, but has never failed to be accurate. That advice? Never buy…
3D Printing Goes 4D with Smart Memory Materials That Self-Assemble
The concept of 4D printing, a term coined by Skylar Tibbits in his 2013 Ted Talk, was developed to create materials that could be manufactured or assembled in one configuration…
