Alex

Surface treatment specialist FerroECOBlast, together with the Jožef Stefan Institute (Slovenia) and Joanneum Research Centre (Austria), has investigated the effects of shot peening on the fatigue strength of metal 3D printed parts. Surface treatments are an important part of the 3D printing workflow and often happen in the post-processing phase after a build is complete. There are a wide variety of surface treatments available today, each with its own use case. For example, there are treatments for smoothing out part surfaces, boosting mechanical properties like strength, and increasing durability by way of wear, corrosion, or heat resistance. Shot peening, otherwise known as cold micro-forging, is one such surface treatment. Often used on metal parts in critical industries like aerospace or automotive, shot peening works by striking a surface with a granular ‘shot’ material (blast media) to produce a compressive residual stress layer and enhance the mechanical strength of a part….    read more 

Researchers from Politecnico di Milano and Humanitas University are investigating the causes and development of neural diseases like Pitt-Hopkins syndrome (PTHS) using 3D printed neural tissues. The project has been granted €250,000 by Fondazione Cariplo as part of a call for projects under the banner “Biomedical research conducted by young researchers 2021”, and involves creating an in vitro model of the human cerebral cortex with 3D bioprinted vascularized neural tissues.  “Our final objective is to lay the foundations to understand the various diseases that affect neural development in order to favor the identification of therapeutic strategies,” said Mattia Sponchioni of Politecnico di Milano and project coordinator. “This has been unthinkable to date.”  Schematic representation of the project objective: to create a 3D model of the cerebral cortex by 3D bioprinting of cells derived from cortical organoids. Image via Politecnico di Milano. Investigating the causes of PTHS PTHS is a rare…    read more