4d printing

MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab Hints at the Future of 4D Design in Pneumatic Objects

MIT provides a place for brilliant minds to develop in each other’s company and, not surprisingly, fascinating developments in design and technology are produced there as a result. One of…

Collaborative Project Focuses on Development of Advanced Materials for 3D Printing and 4D Printing

Brightlands Materials Center is a research and development center focused on polymeric materials, or plastics. Plastic isn’t exactly what most people think of when imagining a sustainable future, but Brightlands is…

BMW Concept Car Draws from 3D & 4D, Redesigning Luxury Seats & Safety Mechanisms

So many 3D printed innovations still leave us shaking our heads in amazement. We are continually wowed not only by the resourcefulness of engineers and makers around the world, but…

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…

Professor Uses 4D Printing to Manufacture Curved Composites Without Molds

4D printing is a technology that has been the subject of a lot of research lately. Just this week, a team of Dartmouth College researchers developed a smart 3D printable…

Researchers Develop 3D Printable Smart Ink that Changes Shape and Color

3D printing is amazing enough on its own, but when it becomes 4D printing, it’s even more incredible. The fourth dimension in 4D printing is time, and 4D printed items…

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…

University in India Inaugurates 3D and 4D Additive Manufacturing Course in Waste Management

You may not think about the number of times you throw discarded waste items into your trash can every day, rather than trudging out to the recycling bin instead, but…

4D Printing Technique Could Be Used to Develop 3D Printed Human Organs for Transplant Patients

Often, when someone receives a life-saving organ transplant, this unfortunately means that another person recently lost their own life to provide it. But there are many researchers currently working to…

3D Printing Spotlight On: Amy Karle, Award Winning BioArtist

Amy Karle is an award winning bioartist who utilizes the relationships among the mind, body, science and technology as the platform from which to create work that examines material and…

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology: Researchers Use Heat for Greater Success in 4D Printing

Interest in 4D printing has continued to grow as scientists have expanded their research into creating items and materials that are helpful to research (as well as many other industries,…

TU Delft Researchers 3D Print “Some of the Most Complex Shape-Shifting Ever Reported” with Ultimaker 3D Printer and PLA

IKEA furniture is, for the most part, pretty easy to assemble. But it could be easier – imagine ordering flat-packed furniture from a place like IKEA, opening it, and watching…

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…

3D Printed Self-Healing Gel Could Make Cracked Phone Screens a Thing of the Past

An inevitable part of owning and using technology is damaging technology. Just about everyone I know has a mobile phone, and just about everyone I know has broken or damaged…

3D Pioneers Challenge Winners from Rapid.Tech + FabCon 3.D. Announced

The Rapid.Tech trade show and conference, recently held at Messe Erfurt in Germany, was pretty busy – CRP Technology discussed the construction of the prototype for a 3D printed Parrot Bebop…

Researchers 3D Print Shape-Changing Structures That Expand with Heat

“Tensegrity” is a term that refers to a structural system of floating rods in compression and cables in continuous tension. It combines the words “tensional integrity,” and has been used…

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…

Dartmouth Researchers Use 3D Printing to Create Super-Strong 4D Material

Rotaxanes sounds to me like the latest health craze, as in “This superfood is packed with rotaxanes that will give you beautiful skin/help you lose weight/allow you to live until…

Harvard SEAS & Wyss Institute Researchers Experiment with Multifunctional Metamaterials

While most of us have just gotten used to the wonders of 3D printing, a number of researchers have already moved far beyond that into the realm of the fourth…