Lockheed Martin, the aerospace company, have filed a patent for a new kind of 3D printer. The patent, filed on April 4 by inventor David G. Findley, describes a new way of 3D printing which would use a pre-ceramic polymer and nanoparticle filler to create synthetic diamond objects of pretty much any shape you can dream up. Any shape! I wanted a diamond T-Rex, but sadly my Google image search wasn’t up to the task. Image: Crystal Fox “[The] method includes depositing alternating layers of a ceramic powder and a pre-ceramic polymer dissolved in a solvent. Each layer of the pre-ceramic polymer is deposited in a shape corresponding to a cross section of an object. The alternating layers of the ceramic powder and the pre-ceramic polymer are deposited until the layers of the pre-ceramic polymer form the shape of the object. The method includes heating the deposited ceramic powder and pre-ceramic… read more
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Remember the M-Jewelry Kickstarter from the beginning of this week? Three days into the project and Makex have smashed their initial goal, with funding for the M-Jewelry having already doubled to $105,774. Going above and beyond their monetary targets has now become something of a trend for Makex, as the M-Jewelry follows in the path of their 2014 Kickstarter fund for the M-One desktop DLP printer, which eventually closed out at $80,481 above their initial $100,000 goal. Example of the M-Jewely custom made rings that are being offered to backers. Image via: Makex on Kickstarter With that said, the M-Jewelry seems to be on track to better even this earlier and substantial amount as there are still 27 days to go, success that surely serves as testament to the quality of Makex products, and an ability to identify and serve one of the most demanding niches in the 3D printing… read more
Voting shortlists for the 2021 3D Printing Industry Awards are now open. Who do you think should receive top honors this year? Have your say now. Interested in tuning in? The Youtube livestream link is also live, so viewers can now subscribe and set reminders to ensure they don’t miss out. Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a machine learning (ML) algorithm with the potential to expedite the process of identifying 3D printable materials. Packaged within their ‘AutoOED’ software, the team’s optimization algorithm is capable of automatically identifying viable printing materials with desired qualities such as toughness, rigidity or compressive strength. In doing so, the program allows users to bypass the costs, lead times and waste incurred via traditional resin formulation, and potentially find mixtures that have evaded human-led R&D. “Materials development is still very much a manual process,” said the paper’s co-lead author Mike Foshey. “A chemist goes into… read more
The 2021 3D Printing Industry Awards shortlists are open for voting, have your say now. Make sure to tune in to the live stream of the event on our YouTube channel. Roboze, a manufacturer of high-temperature industrial-grade 3D printers, has announced a new project that will allow customers to return their waste material and 3D printed parts at the end of their lifecycle to be processed into recycled, lower-cost 3D printing materials. Beginning in January 2022, the circular economy project will seek to reduce the firm’s environmental impact while also democratizing its 3D printing technology by offering recycled material at a lower price point. “We are working to refine the management of the entire supply chain, at any cost and with all the necessary efforts,” said Alessio Lorusso, Founder and CEO of Roboze. “3D printing technology can be one of the solutions to combat CO2 emissions, reducing transport and producing just in time and on-demand. “But… read more
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have announced the development of a novel water-soluble plastic binder that can be added to 3D printing materials and jetted into parts with “exceptional strength.” By tweaking a high-amine content, low molecular weight polyethyleneimine (PEI), the ORNL team has been able to tailor its properties in a way that doubles its strength compared to conventional binders. To showcase the capabilities of their new material, the scientists have already used it to bind and strengthen silica sand, before 3D printing it into a bridge capable of holding 300 times its own weight. “Few polymers are suited to serve as a binder for this application,” said Tomonori Saito, one of the lead researchers on the project. “We were looking for specific properties, such as solubility, that would give us the best result. Our key finding was in the unique molecular structure of our PEI binder… read more
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- Continuum Powders Launches Copper-Nickel Alloys for High-Performance, Sustainable AM
- MPI Develops XRD System for Industrial and Academic Research
