3D Printing

Researchers have taken the next step in developing soft mesh robots that can contract, reshape and grab small objects and carry water droplets while floating on water. A North Carolina State University research team has found a way to 3D print soft, intelligent actuators that can be programmed to reshape and reconfigure under a magnetic…

On January 12, 2019, the world’s largest concrete 3D printed pedestrian bridge was completed in the Wisdom Bay Industrial Park, Baoshan District, Shanghai. The project was designed and developed by the team of Professor Xu Weiguo from Tsinghua University (School of Architecture) – Zoina Land Joint Research Center for Digital Architecture, and was jointly built…

Using new 3D printing technologies, researchers have developed a spinal cord implant that promotes nerve growth in injured sites and restore connections and lost function. A team from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Institute of Engineering in Medicine have for the first time used a rapid 3D printing technique to…

Researchers are using the polymer in plant cell walls to make renewable, soft feedstock for 3D printing. A team from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a new technique for 3D printing feedstock that could enable a profitable use of lignin, the material left over from processing biomass. It has…

New biosensors could help diabetes patients forgo the constant finger pricking or expensive continuous monitoring systems to monitor their glucose levels. Researchers from Washington State University have created a 3D-printed glucose biosensor that could be used in wearable monitors, leading to customizable glucose monitors for individual diabetes patient’s biology. “3D printing can enable manufacturing of…

The new age space race could soon include 3D printed rocket engines. Launcher, a Brooklyn-based start-up, has successfully used a 3D printer to produce a copper alloy E-1 engine with the long-term goal of 3D printing a liquid rocket engine that can take satellites into space. Max Haot, the CEO of Launcher, said in an…

For years, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory engineers and scientists have used an array of sensors and imaging techniques to analyze the physics and processes behind metal 3-D printing in an ongoing effort to build higher quality metal parts the first time, every time. Now, researchers are exploring machine learning to process the data obtained during…

Used to produce three-dimensional objects of almost any type, across a range of industries, including healthcare, aviation and engineering, 3D printed materials have come of age during the last decade. Research published in the journal Materials Today demonstrates a new approach to 3D printing to fuse metallic filaments made from metallic glass into metallic objects.…

MIT engineers have united the principles of self-assembly and 3-D printing using a new technique, which they highlight today in the journal Advanced Materials. By their direct-write colloidal assembly process, the researchers can build centimeter-high crystals, each made from billions of individual colloids, defined as particles that are between 1 nanometer and 1 micrometer across.…

Soldiers on the battlefield or at remote bases often have to wait weeks for vital replacement parts. Now scientists report they have found a way to fabricate many of these parts within hours under combat conditions using water bottles, cardboard and other recyclable materials found on base as starting materials for 3D printing. They say…

3D printing by direct laser writing enables production of micro-meter-sized structures for many applications, from biomedicine to microelectronics to optical metamaterials. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now developed 3D inks that can be erased selectively. This allows specific degradation and reassembly of highly precise structures on the micrometer and nanometer scales. The…