3D printing

Tests on new designs for next-generation solar cells can now be done in hours instead of days thanks to a new system incorporating 3D-printed key components.

An important new trend is buying electrics and electronics you customise to function not just shape. See the new IDTechEx report, "Complete Electronics as Smart Material, User-Customized 2020-2040". Builders, textile manufacturers, those doing home improvement and others are starting to buy electrically-smart materials direct from materials companies, bypassing the electronics industry.

Researchers are refining their design of a 3D-printed nuclear reactor core, scaling up the additive manufacturing process necessary to build it, and developing methods to confirm the consistency and reliability of its printed components.

By implementing high precision 3D scanning and robotic based fabrication technology, Emerald-Ash-Borer-infested "waste wood" is transformed into an abundantly available, affordable, and sustainable building material.

Elementum 3D announced that it has achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification for quality management.

It's a frustrating limitation of 3D printing: Printed objects must be smaller than the machine making them. Huge machines are impractical for printing large parts because they take up too much space and require excessive time to print. Now, a new material can be used to 3D print small objects that expand upon heating. The foam could find applications in architecture, aerospace and biomedicine.

Selective LED-based melting is the name of the new technology that a team has developed for 3D metal printing and has now applied for a patent. The technology is similar to selective laser melting and electron beam melting, in which metal powder is melted by means of a laser or electron beam and built up into a component layer by layer.

Nano Dimension Ltd and REHAU succeeded in printing a 3D touch sensor. With the 3D electronic device, the premium polymer products from REHAU can be transformed into back-lit human-machine-interface surfaces.

Engineers have created a highly effective way to paint complex 3D-printed objects, such as lightweight frames for aircraft and biomedical stents, that could save manufacturers time and money and provide new opportunities to create "smart skins" for printed parts.