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3D printed food for space missions.
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According to the Systems and Materials Research Corporation (SMRC),” they are 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.¨
Complete meals and nutrition for long duration space missions.
How 3D Printers Could Reinvent NASA Space Food.
3D printed hair.
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According to the researchers of Carnegie Mellon University,” they have developed a technique for 3D printing hair, fibers or bristles. The researchers used a fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer. The technique is similar to 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 nozzle sideways concerning 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 hair 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.¨
Reference,
Laput, G., Chen, X. and Harrison, C. 2015. 3D Printed Hair: Fused Deposition Modeling of Soft Strands, Fibers, and Bristles. To appear in Proceedings of the 28th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (Charlotte, North Carolina, November 8 – 11, 2015). UIST ’15. ACM, New York, NY. 593-597.
3D Printed Hair: Fused Deposition Modeling of Soft Strands, Fibers, and Bristles.
Carnegie Mellon Fur-bricates Hair With Inexpensive 3-D Printer.
Click to access 3dprintedhair.pdf
