Optomec Partners with Phillips Federal to Bring Metal Additive Manufacturing Repair Solutions to U.S. Government Agencies: Optomec announced that it has signed a partnership agreement with Phillips Federal. The agreement will enable Phillips Federal to resell the Optomec Laser Engineered Net Shaping systems to US government facilities.

For the first time, researchers have used rapid 3D printing technologies to create a spinal cord, then successfully implanted that scaffolding, loaded with neural stem cells, into sites of severe spinal cord injury in rats.

Rather than building up plastic filaments layer by layer, a new approach to 3D printing lifts complex shapes from a vat of liquid at up to 100 times faster than conventional 3D printing processes, researchers have shown.

The top-ranked orthopedic hospital in the U.S. and a leading global medical device manufacturer from Europe announced the formation of the first provider-based additive manufacturing 3D printing facility for custom complex implants.

These bio-inspired soft robotic devices could offer many more capabilities for movement and performance - such as real-time bio-sensing, self-organization, adaptability, or self-healing - than existing systems, which use solely artificial materials.

Flexible, wireless electronic devices are rapidly emerging and have reached the level of commercialization; nevertheless, most of battery shapes are limited to either spherical and/or rectangular structures, which results in inefficient space use.

Researchers have designed an ingestible capsule that can be controlled using Bluetooth wireless technology. The capsule, which can be customized to deliver drugs, sense environmental conditions, or both, can reside in the stomach for at least a month, transmitting information and responding to instructions from a user's smartphone.

Mercedes Benz is continually expanding its range of genuine replacement parts from the 3D printer.

At just 1 year old, she is 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 15 pounds. She can hold 36 gallons of water for up to eight hours. She has a detachable head but remains faceless. Her name is Marie, and no, this is not her online profile.

Researchers have developed and manufactured a family of architectures that maximises the stiffness of porous lightweight materials. It's practically impossible to develop stiffer designs.

Researchers have invented a way to fabricate nanoscale 3-D objects of nearly any shape. They can also pattern the objects with a variety of useful materials, including metals, quantum dots, and DNA.

Jordi Bordas, Pastry World Champion and creator of the B·Concept recipe formulation method, uses the BCN3D Sigma 3D printer to produce pastry molds to shape their latest pastry product, the Golden Peanut. 3D printing technology has allowed Jordi and his team to unleash their creativity and produce this unique fascinating dessert, turning pastry into an even more artistic industry.

An international team of scientists have developed a thermogalvanic brick that generates electricity as long as the two faces of the brick are at different temperatures.

Researchers have 3-D printed a novel microfluidic device that simulates cancer treatments on biopsied tumor tissue, so clinicians can better examine how individual patients will respond to different therapeutics — before administering a single dose.

Scientists have developed a 3D-printed robotic hand which can play simple musical phrases on the piano by just moving its wrist. And while the robot is no virtuoso, it demonstrates just how challenging it is to replicate all the abilities of a human hand, and how much complex movement can still be achieved through design.

NEO Tech AMT GmbH is one of the leading companies developing systems for 3D Printed Electronics (3D PE). The company installed the first 5 axis 3D PE system in 2010. Rapid advances lead to the first commercial installation for mass production for printed 3D circuits in mobile communications devices in 2015.

Researchers have created a novel 3D printing workflow that allows cardiologists to evaluate how different valve sizes will interact with each patient's unique anatomy, before the medical procedure is actually performed.

The answer is: Yes, if you take an impossible object design and combine it with micro 3d printing technology. A metallic impossible object at the size of a red blood cell is born.

Though activities in 3D bioprinting have been growing in leaps and bounds since 2015, the activity we have seen in 2018 has been truly remarkable for this fledgling field. Finally, governments, academic institutions and companies alike are beginning to understand the value that 3D bioprinting can bring and are working hard together to bring disruptive change through building tissues from scratch.

Advancements in material science and material processing will always play a central role in any technological progression. IDTechEx has been providing leading market analysis on a broad range of advanced materials and their technology analysts have given their pick of the key news stories from 2018.