3DPrinting

Researchers at MIT have that uses liquid metal to allow for extremely fast prints. The process can manufacture large aluminum components in minutes, whereas many pre-existing techniques would take hours to finish the same build. The technology has already been used to create table legs, chair frames and related furniture parts.It’s called liquid metal printing (LMP) and involves directing molten aluminum along a predefined path into a bed of tiny glass beads. These beads quickly harden into a 3D structure. Researchers…

3D bioprinting is gaining popularity as a way of treating disease and injury by producing three-dimensional living tissues and organs. However, to work effectively, the “inks” used for bioprinting must be firmed up using UV light or chemical processes. But now researchers have developed a new bioink that hardens in response to body temperature, making it safer for potential use in artificial organs and tissue regeneration applications.Bioprinting uses 3D-printable bioinks, substances – usually containing cells – that…

An artist's rendition of a Terran R rocket launching.Relativity SpaceRelativity Space is shifting its strategy in an attempt to accelerate work on the reusable rocket it's developing, the company announced on Wednesday. Chief among the changes: adjusting its manufacturing approach to blend its 3D-printing-first approach with traditional metal-bending techniques.The company is going "all in" on developing its larger Terran R rocket, CEO Tim Ellis told CNBC, effectively shelving its Terran 1 vehicle after one launch."We're…

The exterior of "The Wormhole" factory.Relativity SpaceLONG BEACH, California – It was a few days into the new year yet Relativity Space's factory was anything but quiet, a din of activity with massive 3D printers humming and the clanging of construction ringing out.Now about eight years on from its founding, Relativity continues to grow as it pursues a novel way of manufacturing rockets out of mostly 3D-printed structures and parts. Relativity believes that its approach will make building orbital-class rockets much…

Although great strides are being made in the field of lab-grown meat, the stuff is still quite expensive to produce. A new 3D-printing ink could help, while also making use of agricultural waste that would otherwise be discarded.Currently in the production of "cultured meat," animal muscle cells are seeded onto a three-dimensional scaffold-like structure, which mimics the fibrous structure of natural meat. As the cells reproduce, they take over that scaffold, eventually resulting in a solid piece of meat with the desired…

Although plant-based polylactic acid (PLA) bioplastic is acclaimed for its biodegradability, it can take quite a long time to degrade if the conditions aren't quite right. Bearing this fact in mind, Washington State University scientists have devised a way of upcycling it into a 3D-printing resin." is biodegradable and compostable, but once you look into it, it turns out that it can take up to 100 years for it to decompose in a landfill," said postdoctoral researcher Yu-Chung Chang, co-corresponding author of the study.…

Utilising a laser-based 3D printing technique, researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a nanostructured high-entropy alloy that is far more ductile and stronger than other state-of-the-art additively manufactured materials. This could pave the way for building higher-performance components used in aerospace, energy, medicine, and transportation. Such high entropy alloys (HEA) have gained popularity in material science. They have five or more elements…

Researchers at EPFL have demonstrated a light-based 3D-printing method that's about 30 times faster than conventional additive manufacturing, creating objects in 20 seconds that would normally take more like 10 minutes thanks to photocurable resins. Where regular 3D printing is all about sticking blobs of material on a substrate and allowing (or causing) it to solidify, EPFL's light-based process, pioneered back in 2017, takes a totally different approach that's much, much faster. “We pour the resin into a container and…

Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a new way to 3D-print glass microstructures, including these 3D printed glass lattices, which are displayed in front of a U.S. penny for scale. Credit: Photo by Joseph Toombs/UC BerkeleyThe manufacturing technique enables faster production, greater optical quality, and design flexibility.Researchers at the <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>University of California,…