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Audi 3D prints Grand Prix Racer
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Audi 3D prints Grand Prix Racer
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Audi has used 3D printing to produce a scaled model of a historical Grand Prix racer Auto Union Type C from the year 1936. Audi 3D printed different pieces of the model and assembled the car. Audi used a 3d printer that uses aluminum or steel powder. The3D printer uses a laser to melt the metal powder. Layers and layers of the metal powder are melted to form parts of the car. This process allows creation of parts having complex geometries that are very difficult to produce using conventional manufacturing techniques. With the technology used, the 3D printer can produce objects that can be up to 24 cm long and up to 20 cm high.
Audi is looking forward to using this technology for mass production. According to Dr Hubert Waltl, head of toolmaking for the Volkswagen group shown in the picture below driving the replica car, “We are constantly exploring the boundaries of new processes. One of our goals is to apply metal printers in series production.”
https://www.audi-mediacenter.com/en/press-releases/audi-toolmaking-prints-auto-union-typ-c-5095
http://www.iol.co.za/motoring/cars/audi/audi-3d-prints-iconic-racer-replica-1.1941756#.VkAXSb_cg94
Mattel and Autodesk Partner for 3D Printing of Toys
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Systems and Materials Research Corporation (SMRC) 3D Printing Food for Space Missions
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According to the Systems and Materials Research Corporation (SMRC),” is developing technology for 3D printing food for space missions. Astronauts typically do not get the type of food that we take for granted here on earth every day. They get food in pouches that has very different flavor and texture compared to the food we eat daily on earth. Also storing the food in the pouches for long term causes degradation in its nutrients.
SMRC is using 3D printing technology to provide astronauts in space with food similar to what we eat here on earth. Also, their technology introduces nutrition supplements to compensate for any degradation due to long storage. Also, if someone fell sick in space, their technology will be able to 3D print therapeutic food.
SMRC has demonstrated the technology by 3D printing pizza. The 3D printer first dispenses pizza dough on a hot plate. The dough is cooked and then pizza sauce and cheese is dispensed. This technology could be critical if we had long term space missions in future, for example, a mission to Mars”.
http://systemsandmaterials.com/technologies/3d-printed-food/
http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/home/feature_3d_food_prt.htm
http://www.space.com/21308-3d-printing-nasa-space-food.html
Carnegie Mellon University 3D Prints Hair
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According to the Researchers and Carnegie Mellon University,” have developed a technique for 3D printing hair, fibers or bristles. The researchers used a fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer. The technique is similar forming thin strands by extruding glue from a hot glue thing and suddenly moving the hot glue away. Similarly, the technique extrudes molten plastic from the nozzle of the 3D printer and then moves the nozzle away rapidly. The researchers call the technique fabrication.
3D printers typically can not move the nozzle up rapidly. However, they can move the the nozzle sideways with respect to the print bed rapidly. Therefore, instead of moving the nozzle up, the researchers moved the nozzle sideways. The amount of molten plastic extruded and the speed with which the nozzle is moved away can be varied to control the thickness of hair generated. These parameters are programmed into the 3D printer.
The technique presently creates hairs strands by strands. Therefore, the process is slow and takes 20-25 minutes to generate hair on 10 square mm2. Different types of material can be extruded from the 3D printer to create hair having different properties.The technique can be used to add hair to 3D printed objects, for example, hair on a head, whiskers, or hairy tails”.
http://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2015/october/3-D-printer-hair.html
http://www.chrisharrison.net/index.php/Research/3DPrintedHair
http://chrisharrison.net/projects/3dprintedhair/3dprintedhair.pdf
3D Printed Microscopic Robotic Fish
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According to the researcher Wei Zhu, “developing the technology Nano-engineers at the University of California, San Diego has been able to 3D print microscopic robots. They developed tiny robots shaped like fish. These are called microfish and are smaller than the width of human hair. Nanoparticles are added to various parts of the microfish to make them functional. Platinum nanoparticles installed in their tails help them propel forward. Magnetic nanoparticles installed in their head can be used to steer them.
The microfish are developed using a 3D printing technology called microscale continuous optical printing. This technology allows 3D printing hundreds of microfish within seconds. The shapes of the microbots to be changed, for example, to experiment with different shapes of fish such as sharks vs. ray fish, or experiment with other shapes such as birds.
We have developed an entirely new method to engineer nature-inspired microscopic swimmers that have complex geometric structures and are smaller than the width of a human hair. With this method, we can easily integrate different functions inside these tiny robotic swimmers for a broad spectrum of applications.” For example, toxic neutralizing particles can be included in the microfish to use them for detoxifying liquids. In future, this technology may allow delivery of medicine to specific parts of the body via a bloodstream”.
3D-Printed Artificial Microfish. Advanced Materials. 2015
http://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=1797
UCSF Researchers 3D Print Human Tissues Using DNA Programming
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According to the Professor Gartner of UCSF,” have developed a technique to build tiny models of human tissue called organoids. The technique uses DNA to guide the assembly of cells into organoids. This technique is called DNA Programmed Assembly of Cells (DPAC). The research team created several organoid arrays mimicking human tissues such as mammary glands. The research was published in the journal Nature Methods on Aug. 31, 2015.
This technique incubates cells with snippets of single strands of DNA The DNA attaches to the cell’s outer membrane. The incubated cell attaches to other cells that are incubated with matching DNA strands. In other words, the cell doesn’t attach with other incubated cells if their DNA sequence does not match. A cell can be incubated with more than one type of DNA cells. This allows the cell to attach to different types of cells. This technique is similar to playing with Legos. A lego piece can attach to other lego pieces if they have matching sides. This simple trick allows lego pieces to be combined to build a very large variety of toys. Similarly, DPAC uses DNA strands attached to cells to create different types of organoids.
This technique can be used for therapeutic drug screening. One potential application would be that within the next couple of years, we could be taking samples of different components of a cancer patient’s mammary gland and building a model of their tissue to use as a personalized drug screening platform. Another is to use the rules of tissue growth we learn with these models to one day grow complete organs.”
https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2015/08/131431/dna-guided-3-d-printing-human-tissue-unveiled
https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2015/09/131716/building-human-breast-tissue-cell-cell
http://www.kurzweilai.net/dna-guided-3-d-printing-of-human-tissue
http://www.medgadget.com/2015/09/3d-tissue-printing-using-dna-guidance-system.html
http://www.healthline.com/health-news/researchers-discover-way-to-print-out-human-tissue-090715
http://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/v12/n10/full/nmeth.3553.html
Inside 3d Printing Conference and Expo 2015 in Shanghai
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Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo is the leading B2B trade show in 3D printing. 2015 Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo are from December 8-10, 2015 in Shanghai. It includes two days of conference sessions, and three days of exhibitions presenting the latest 3D printers and services. The session topics include business, manufacturing, medicine, aerospace, among others. Inside 3D Printing provides valuable networking opportunities. It showcases an exhibit hall with the latest 3D printing materials, services, and products in action.
http://inside3dprinting.com/shanghai/2015/
Carnegie Mellon University Researchers 3D Print Tissues Using MakerBot 3D Printers
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Carnegie Mellon University Researchers 3D Print Tissues Using MakerBot 3D Printers
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Human body can repair small tissue damages by itself. However, human body has its limits and cannot fix several types of damages. For example, human body is unable to fix several heart, problems, kidney problems, liver problems, and so on. These problems are fixed by performing organ transplants. Thousands of Americans are on waiting lists for various organ transplants.
Professor Adam Feinberg’s group at Carnegie Mellon is performing research that one day could make it unnecessary to transplant organs. Instead, the required organs will be 3D printed. Professor Feinberg’s group is using MakerBot’s 3D printers for 3D printing tissues.
The technology can best be described in the words of Professor Feinberg, “The challenge with soft materials — think about something like Jello that we eat — is that they collapse under their own weight when 3-D printed in air. So we developed a method of printing these soft materials inside a support bath material. Essentially, we print one gel inside of another gel, which allows us to accurately position the soft material as it’s being printed, layer-by-layer.”
One important aspect of this research is that it is based on use of off-the-shelf 3D printers and not conventional bioprinters. These off-the-shelf 3D printers cost in the range of a thousand dollars which is much more affordable compared typical bioprinters that cost in the range of hundred thousand dollars. Also the research group is using open source software and releasing their 3D printer designs under an open source license.
http://engineering.cmu.edu/files/images/press/2015/Fixing-Broken-Hearts-Infographic.jpg
http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2015/11/05/3d-printing-tissues-and-organs-with-makerbot
http://engineering.cmu.edu/media/feature/2015/10_23_feinberg_paper.html
Magnetic 3D Bioprinting from Nano3D Biosciences
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Magnetic 3D Bioprinting from Nano3D Biosciences
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Magnetic 3D bioprinting uses magnetic nanoparticles to 3D print cell structures. The magnetic nanoparticles are biocompatible, i.e., they can be in contact with living cells without causing adverse effects. The process makes cells magnetic by tagging them with magnetic particles. Once the cells become magnetic, external magnetic forces are used to 3D printed the cells into specific cell structures. A technique called magnetic levitation is used to levitate cells in a container using a magnet above the container. Levitation of the cells causes the cells to aggregate rapidly.
The first 3D bioprinting system was commercially made available by Nano3D Biosciences. This technology is targeted for use in pharmaceutical industry. This technology can be used for building simple cellular structures such a spheroids and rings as well as complex structures such as aortic valves.