As incredible as it is to be able to take a material, run it through a 3D printer and wind up with a usable object such as a tool, the additive manufacturing process is (in most cases) limited to only a single material, and it requires multiple attempts to get it exactly right.
Now, however, a team of researchers at the MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) report that they have developed a new device that can use up to 10 different materials at the same time and can auto-correct and recalibrate to ensure print accuracy.
The device is known as the MultiFab system, and according to Engadget and Slashgear, it works by mixing microscopic photopolymers droplets together and firing them through an inkjet-style printer instead of extruding materials like most 3D printers. It also uses scanners and cameras to provide immediate feedback on the object currently being manufactured.
Less expensive than other multi-material 3D printers
While this is not the first 3D printer to use more than one type of material during the fabrication process, the MIT team explains that it is far less expensive and can use more different materials at once than those devices, which can cost up to $250,000 and tend to be limited to six items.
“Multifab is an order of magnitude more inexpensive than currently available multi-material 3D printers, it can print with up to 10 materials and it features a 3D scanning system that can self-calibrate and self-correct,” Javier Ramos, a research engineer at CSAIL and co-author of a new paper describing the technology, explained to redOrbit via email.
“The ability to scan the printing process and run a feedback loop that identifies errors in the process is the groundbreaking technical contribution,” Ramos added. “We think that with the presented work, we took a long stride in the direction of creating a better, cheaper, and more user-friendly multi-material 3D printing platform. There are now many unexplored areas and applications that we hope this platform will be able to tackle.”
Device could be used in electronics, medical imaging
The MIT team claims that MultiFab is capable of delivering resolution at the level of 40 microns, or less than half the width of a human hair, and that its 3D scanning technology can detect errors at each level of the process and generate “correction masks” to fix issues as needed.
Furthermore it allows users to embed circuits, sensors, and other components direction on to the body of an object, allowing it to manufacture finished products, complete with moving parts, in a single pass. The technology could be used in a variety of different fields, including microsensing, consumer electronics, medical imaging, and telecommunications, the researchers said.
“The majority of 3D printed objects are non-functional,” Ramos told redOrbit. “This means that they do not exhibit any properties beyond their shape and form. By combining multiple materials we enable the 3D printing of functional objects. Functional objects have optical, mechanical, electrical or appearance properties that go beyond just form and shape.”
“We envision that now we will be able to print functional objects easily, and with a much wider palette of materials,” he added. “We have not even scratched the surface of the applications that 3D printing will enable. It is already changing the way we design and manufacture things. There are many more unexplored applications on the horizon.”
(Image credits: MIT)
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