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Design of a super-compressible metamaterial by machine learning and additive manufacturing – Presented by Miguel Bessa, Delft University of Technology

miguel bessa

Design of a super-compressible metamaterial by machine learning and additive manufacturing – Presented by Miguel Bessa, Delft University of Technology, at 4D Printing & Meta Materials Conference, on April 17, during the 3D Printing Event at Brightlands Chemelot Campus in The Netherlands.

Materials design follows an experimentally-guided trial-and-error process which limits the search for untapped regions of the solution space and introduces difficulties in adapting designs to new circumstances.

Continue reading “Design of a super-compressible metamaterial by machine learning and additive manufacturing – Presented by Miguel Bessa, Delft University of Technology”
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FIFDM: 3D Printing with Continuous Fiber Reinforcement – Presented by Jens Schlimbach, The Institute for Composite Materials (IVW)

Program Jens Schlimbach

FIFDM: 3D Printing with Continuous Fiber Reinforcement – Presented by Jens Schlimbach, The Institute for Composite Materials (IVW), at the 3rd edition of 4D Printing & Meta Materials Conference, which takes place on 18 April 2018 at Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Sittard-Geleen, The Netherlands.

The presentation shows practical examples of research into the application of 3D printing technologies with continuous fiber reinforcement – the 4th dimension. The FIFDM process is a technology developed at the Institut für Verbundwerkstoffe at Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. Research combines disciplines including design, material science and manufacturing know-how like robotics and 3D printing. The technology opens new possibilities like free placement or load-specific orientation of the fibers overcoming the limitation of in-plane layup. Methods and materials used will be discussed, along with future expectations and implications of smart materials and 3D printing within creative design potential. Continue reading “FIFDM: 3D Printing with Continuous Fiber Reinforcement – Presented by Jens Schlimbach, The Institute for Composite Materials (IVW)”

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3D Printing coupled with right materials can impact on solving real-world problems – Interview with Marc in het Panhuis, University of Wollongong

Marc in het Panhuis

3D Printing coupled with right materials can impact on solving real-world problems – Marc in het Panhuis, University of Wollongong, Australia

Marc in het Panhuis is a Professor of Materials Science in the School of Chemistry and a Chief Investigator in the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science at the University of Wollongong (Australia). He will speak about 3D and 4D printing of edible and living hydrogel materials at the 4D Printing & Meta Materials Conference, on April 18, 2018, at Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Sittard-Geleen, The Netherlands.

What drives you?

Curiosity to know and understand the world around me.

What emerging technologies/trends do you see as having the greatest potential in the short and long run? Continue reading “3D Printing coupled with right materials can impact on solving real-world problems – Interview with Marc in het Panhuis, University of Wollongong”

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3D and 4D printing of edible and living hydrogel materials – Presented by Marc in het Panhuis, University of Wollongong

Marc in het Panhuis

3D and 4D printing of edible and living hydrogel materials – Presented by Marc in het Panhuis, University of Wollongong, at the 4D Printing & Meta Materials Conference, on April 18, 2018, at Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Sittard-Geleen, The Netherlands.

Hydrogels are smart and multifunctional materials with a real potential for use novel applications including soft robotics, (edible) sensors and bionic implants. Consisting of a highly swollen polymer network, hydrogels are typically soft and brittle meaning they are not compatible with many traditional techniques used to process materials into structures.

In this presentation, I will demonstrate a variety of (extrusion-based) 3D and 4D printing techniques for processing hydrogel inks alongside other inks of structural polymers to create composite architectures including a smart valve, an artificial cartilage meniscus, an artificial tendon, brain-like structures, edible electronic circuits, stretchable devices and edible/living hydrogels. Continue reading “3D and 4D printing of edible and living hydrogel materials – Presented by Marc in het Panhuis, University of Wollongong”

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TU Delft researchers develop new technique to combine 3D Printing & origami folding (video)

3D Printing

TU Delft researchers develop new technique to combine 3D Printing & origami folding

Researchers at TU Delft have combined origami techniques and 3D printing to create flat structures that can fold themselves into 3D structures (for example a tulip). The structures self-fold according to a pre-planned sequence, with some parts folding sooner than others. Usually, expensive printers and special materials are needed for that. But the TU Delft scientists have created a new technique that requires only a common 3D printer and ubiquitous material. Among other applications, their research has the potential to greatly improve bone implants.

In recent years, Amir Zadpoor of TU Delft has become somewhat of an origami master. His team’s work combines the traditional Japanese paper folding art with the more novel technology of 3D printing in order to create constructs that can self-roll, self-twist, self-wrinkle and self-fold into a variety of 3D structures. In 2016, the researchers already demonstrated several self-folding objects. ‘But there were still serious challenges we needed to address’, says Zadpoor. Continue reading “TU Delft researchers develop new technique to combine 3D Printing & origami folding (video)”

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Expanding polymer enables self-folding without heating or immersion in water ( VIDEO)

polymer

Expanding polymer enables self-folding without heating or immersion in water

As 3-D printing has become a mainstream technology, industry and academic researchers have been investigating printable structures that will fold themselves into useful three-dimensional shapes when heated or immersed in water.

In a paper appearing in the American Chemical Society’s journal Applied Materials and Interfaces, researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and colleagues report something new: a printable structure that begins to fold itself up as soon as it’s peeled off the printing platform.

One of the big advantages of devices that self-fold without any outside stimulus, the researchers say, is that they can involve a wider range of materials and more delicate structures. Continue reading “Expanding polymer enables self-folding without heating or immersion in water ( VIDEO)”

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3D, 4D printing technology to enable clothing & consumer products that will think for us (Video)

3D, 4D printing technology to enable clothing & consumer products that will think for us.Massachusetts Institute of Technology is widely considered the epicenter of the world’s technological innovation, and nothing is more on the forefront of the future than the MIT Media Lab. At events all over the world MIT’s Technology Review tries to start global conversations about technologies that matter, the people who make them and how they could change our lives. Throughout 2015 the chosen topics were as diverse as they were cutting edge, including Augmented Knowledge, Better Living Through Data, Infinite Energy, Rethinking Urban Infrastructure, and  Robots Among Us. At last week’s MIT’s Technology Review EmTech Brazil, audiences got a taste of what the future of wearable technology and self-assembling consumer products could be. Continue reading “3D, 4D printing technology to enable clothing & consumer products that will think for us (Video)”

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Students at TU Delft Use 4D Printing to Make Products with Origami-Like Characteristics that Change over Time

Students at TU Delft Use 4D Printing to Make Products with Origami-Like Characteristics that Change over Time.A relatively new development in 3D printing is the addition of a fourth dimension: time. Students at TU Delft used this fourth dimension to print a product with origami-like characteristics that changes over time. They did this by using a 3D printer to print a form on a fabric substrate that is held under tension. Along with eight other projects, including a 3D-printed bicycle frame made of rust-resistant steel and 3D models of heart defects that are used to aid doctor-patient consultations, this project is part of the ‘Advanced Prototyping’ exhibition on 27 October at TU Delft. Continue reading “Students at TU Delft Use 4D Printing to Make Products with Origami-Like Characteristics that Change over Time”

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Smart Memory Materials That Self-Assemble Turn 3D into 4D Printing (Video)

Smart Memory Materials That Self-Assemble Turn 3D into 4D Printing. The concept of 4D printing, a term coined by Skylar Tibbits in his 2013 Ted Talk, was developed to create materials that could be manufactured or assembled in one configuration and then alter themselves by self-assembling into a second programmable configuration. The transformation could be controlled using smart materials that alter themselves based on a pre-set series of movements that would be entirely programmable. We have already seen simple 4D objects transform themselves, but until now more complex self-assembly required multiple types of stimulus that would need to be applied at specific intervals. Continue reading “Smart Memory Materials That Self-Assemble Turn 3D into 4D Printing (Video)”

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“3D Printing of Inflatable Elastomeric Tensegrity Structures”, Presented by Fergal Coulter, Nottingham Trent University

“3D Printing of Inflatable Elastomeric Tensegrity Structures”, Presented by Fergal Coulter, Nottingham Trent University.This talk details the design of an additive manufacturing system for Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (artificial muscles), with uses in soft robotic and medical applications. Continue reading ““3D Printing of Inflatable Elastomeric Tensegrity Structures”, Presented by Fergal Coulter, Nottingham Trent University”