3D Printing Webinar and Virtual Event Roundup, July 7, 2020

We’ve got plenty of 3D printing webinars and virtual events to tell you about for this coming week, starting with nScrypt’s webinar today. 3Ding and Formlabs will each hold a webinar tomorrow, July 8th, and 3D Systems is hosting a virtual event on the 8th. There are two more webinars on July 9th, by KEX Knowledge Exchange and ASME, and Additive Industries is holding a virtual event that day. Finally, a 3D Health Hackathon will take place starting July 10th.

nScrypt’s Cutting Edge of Digital Manufacturing Webinar

On June 30th, nScrypt held the first of a two-part Cutting Edge Digital Manufacturing webinar series, and is holding the second part today, July 7th, at 1 pm ET. In part two of “Pushing the Envelope of Digital Manufacturing,” the speakers will be Eric D. Wachsman, PhD, from the University of Maryland; Eduardo Rojas, PhD, with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Hjalti Sigmarsson, PhD, from Oklahoma University; and Craig Armiento, PhD, with the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Topics of discussion in this webinar include the use of metamaterials, building radio frequency devices, systems, and the first 3D/volumetric electrical circuits and antennas, and the state of the art of 3D manufacturing. Register here.

3DIng “Let’s Talk 3D Printing” Webinar

Indian 3D printer manufacturer 3Ding recently began holding a weekly webinar about 3D printing-related topics, such as SketchUp training, different types of 3D printing, OpenSCAD, slicing, applications in rapid prototyping, and how to choose a 3D printer. Tomorrow, July 8th, the topic of the weekly webinar will be “Live Demo of FabX, Hydra Series 3D Printers & AMA.”

Surendranath Reddy, the founder, CEO, and CTO of 3Ding, is leading the remote webinar session, which will take place at 6:30 am ET and last about 45 minutes. You can join the session here.

Webinar on Formlabs’ New Materials

Formlabs recently launched two new materials, Flexible 80A and Elastic 50A resins, which allows customers to make soft, flexible parts with ease. In a webinar on July 8th at 2:00 pm ET, attendees will get to learn all about these resins with the company’s Materials Product Manager Kathy But and webinar specialist Faris Sheikh. Topics will include when to use these materials, optimal applications, 3D printing material properties like spring back, tensile strength, and shore durometer, and the Ross Flex Test.

“To make soft and flexible parts with traditional methods, such as RTV moldmaking, can be a lengthy process. If you’ve also tried directly 3D printing flexible parts, you probably know there’s not many high performing materials available. That is now changing.

“With the launch of our Flexible 80A and Elastic 50A Resins, you’ll be able to easily fabricate flexible parts that are both soft and hard.”

Register here.

3D Systems’s Virtual Tradeshow 

3D Systems is holding a virtual event on July 8th in order to teach attendees how to transform their manufacturing workflows. There will be a keynote address, networking opportunities, multiple live webinars, and even a virtual exhibition hall. The company will provide examples of digital manufacturing solution workflows with plastic and metal additive manufacturing, subtractive manufacturing, and on-demand services.

“Businesses are focused on lowering risk, resolving supply chain dependencies, streamlining supplier distribution and avoiding interruptions to supply access.

“Join 3D Systems at this exclusive virtual event to find out how Digital Manufacturing Solutions designed for today’s production needs, enable you to integrate additive and subtractive technologies into your manufacturing environment and workflow — providing increased agility, quicker lead times, improved productivity, and allowing you to offer new innovations to your customers.”

All presentations will be in English, and available on-demand for 30 days. Register here.

KEX Knowledge Exchange on Powder Bed Fusion

KEX Knowledge Exchange AG, a former spinoff of Fraunhofer IPT, offers technology consulting. As a service to its industrial and research partners, the company also has a web platform that offers over 7,000 profiles of AM technologies and materials, in addition to industry news, and has now launched a section devoted to webinars, with topics including post-processing and powder bed fusion (PBF) 3D printing.

“Together with one of our appreciated network partners, the ACAM Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing, we now launched a webinar section,” Jun Kim Doering, a technical writer with KEX, told 3DPrint.com. “Due to the COVID19 situation, ACAM has shifted their focus to an online offering, including webinars on different aspects of the AM technologies and applications.”

The first, “Webinar Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) – Advanced insights into Process, Parameters & Hardware,” will take place this Thursday, July 9th, and Erik Feldbaum, ACAM Aachen Center for Additive Manufacturing, will speak. It’s free for ACAM members, and will cost €175 for non-members.

ASME on 3D Printing in Hospitals

AM Medical, powered by ASME International, will be holding a free, live webinar this Thursday, July 9th, on “Building the Business Case for 3D Printing in Hospitals.” Point-of-care manufacturing leaders will discuss necessary skills, where to find the proper resources, how to address reimbursement, and other important questions during the hourlong session, from 4-5 pm ET. Speakers are Andy Christensen, the President of Somaden; Jonathan Morris, MD, Neuroradiologist and Director of the Mayo Clinic’s 3D Printing Anatomic Modeling Lab; Beth Ripley, MDAssistant Professor of Radiology with VA Puget Sound; Justin RyanResearch Scientist at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego; and Formlabs’ Director of Healthcare Gaurav Manchanda.

“The ability to manufacture from the patient’s data (medical imaging or surface scan) has been compelling to a community always looking for ways to innovate. With improving patient care as the primary goal, 3D printing has directly impacted more than 1 million patients. More than 25 years ago, anatomical models began to be used for planning of complex surgical procedures. Today, hospitals are using the technology for surgical guides and more. With increasing numbers of hospitals looking to bring 3D printing into their facility, how are they building the business case?”

Register here.

Additive Industries Hosting Digital Event

On July 9th and 10th, Additive Industries is getting the trade show season running again with what it calls “a corona-proof way to get out of the starting blocks.” At its two-day virtual event, attendees can visit the company’s digital booth, view presentations, and talk to the experts to learn more about the MetalFAB1 3D printer and how the company can help turn your ideas into reality…all without traveling or waiting in line.

“While the virtual domain has limitless possibilities, we still live in the physical world. With our exclusive industry additive manufacturing event – we are making the virtual world a reality.”

Register for the virtual event here.

3D Health Hackathon

The Jersey City Rapid Maker Response Group (JCRMRG), a volunteer collective in New Jersey, is hosting a virtual Community Health Hackathon this week in order to foster community entrepreneurship and take on sustainability, supply chain, and manufacturing challenges that are related to healthcare and PPE (personal protective equipment) during COVID-19. There are three categories: sustainable PPE, modular solution labs, and day-to-day PPE, and the deadline to register is this Friday, July 10, at 12 pm ET. Panelists will meet the nine judges during a Zoom call that night to present their ideas, and then the next two days will be spent hacking. The final submission deadline is July 13th at 9 am, and winners will be announced on July 16th.

“Throughout the COVID-19 health crisis healthcare workers faced critical shortages in PPE created by supply chain disruptions and shortages. Jersey City Rapid Maker Response Group, as well as other groups like them around the country, proved that by quickly deploying 3D-printing capabilities and then extending those capabilities through rapid manufacturing – they were able to scale from producing 1,000 face shields a week to 10,000 face shields a day, both at a fraction of traditional pricing.

“We have reached out to leaders in the tech, manufacturing and 3D-printing communities to form a community-led virtual make-athon.  Our collective goal is to continue to bring bright minds together to develop 3D-printing, manufacturing and community-based engineering solutions to address the ongoing needs surrounding supply chain disruptions in emergent and healthcare settings.”

The current prize pool is valued at over $7,500, so what are you waiting for? Register for the hackathon here.

Will you attend any of these events and webinars, or have news to share about future ones? Let us know! Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the comments below.

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3D Printing Webinar & Virtual Event Roundup, May 31, 2020

With so many events going virtual due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there’s also been an increase in the number of webinars that companies in the additive manufacturing industry are holding. To make things easier for our readers, since there’s so much online content to choose from these days, 3DPrint.com is compiling all of these available webinars, and the virtual events, into a weekly roundup for you, starting today.

Freeman Technology Webinar

Characterization Tools for Evaluating Polymer Powders for Laser Sintering Webinar

This Tuesday, June 2nd, UK-based Freeman Technology, a Micromeritics company that creates systems for measuring the flow properties of powder materials, will host a webinar at 9 am ET titled “Characterization Tools for Evaluating Polymer Powders for Laser Sintering.” Enrico Gallino, Senior Engineer – Material Specialist at Ricoh UK Products Ltd, will speak about evaluating an AM powder characterization methodology, and will also discuss the results of screening the relevant properties, such as flowability, shape, and thermal properties, of a variety of materials.

“As additive manufacturing (AM) technology transitions from the fabrication of prototypes to serial production of end-use parts, the understanding of the powder properties needed to reliably produce parts of acceptable quality becomes critical,” the webinar site states.

“Achieving the optimal quality for parts does not only depend on setting the right process parameters. Material feedstock also plays an important role when aiming for high performance products. In the case of selective laser sintering, polymer powders are used as a raw material. Therefore, controlling the quality and correctly characterizing the particles used in the process is a key step to successfully apply polymer AM techniques and also to expand the range of material that can be process with this technology.”

Click here to register.

Dassault Systèmes Webinar

Dassault Systèmes be will holding a live webinar on Thursday, June 4th at 10 am ET, titled “Intuitive 3D Designs with CATIA® and SOLIDWORKS® on Mobile Devices.” Participants will have the chance to learn how beneficial flexible design workflows can be when delivering products to market, faster, across many different industries. There will be a live demonstration, using tablets and PCs, on how combining CATIA and SOLIDWORKS on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform will allow your business to add engineering details with simple parametric modeling, create organic surfaces with subdivision (Sub-D) modeling, generate complex patterns and shapes quickly, optimize and evolve designs using an algorithmic approach, and more – all from your own device. The demonstration will be followed by a live Q&A session.

“Discover our portfolio of ready-to-go online Design and Engineering applications in action, which enable you to design from your laptop, your smartphone or tablet! Enjoy increased agility without compromising best-in-class design and engineering capabilities,” the webinar site states.

“With its growing app portfolio and secure cloud technology, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform enables you to manage all facets of your product development process while reducing infrastructure costs, IT overhead, software maintenance and complexity. All 3DEXPERIENCE solutions work together seamlessly making data management, sharing and collaboration easy.”

Click here to register.

3DHEALS 2020 Global Summit

The 3DHEALS conference is going virtual this year, as the 3DHEALS 2020 Global Summit runs from 11 am-9:30 pm ET June 5th and 6th. Offering powerful networking and effective programming on a global stage, this popular bioprinting conference – sponsored by Whova and Zoom – brings together influencers and audiences from over nine countries, offering opportunities and insights that can be beneficial to stakeholders. With over 70 speakers, more than four workshops, startup events, simulated in-conference experience, an interview series hosted by Dr. Jenny Chen, and more, this is one you won’t want to miss.

“3DHEALS2020 is designed to cater to a wide range of professionals, ranging from healthcare early adopter, manufacturers, engineers, legal professionals and policymakers, C-Level executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and more. We aim to create an effective program that maximizes the attendee’s experiences and decreases the barriers in communication among stakeholders,” the event site states.

Click here to register.

Will you attend these events and webinars, or have news to share about future ones? Let us know! Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the comments below.

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What Makes for a Great 3D Printing Webinar?

Tools and insights to help people choose the right 3D printer, materials, or become more knowledgable about how disruptive technologies can benefit the industry, are very important.  This is one of the reasons why a lot of well-established companies and startups are turning to webinars to help users boost their understanding of a 3D printer they already own or to attract new customers. Nevertheless, webinars take up time, usually around an hour or more. On average people spent one-third of their time on work and around five hours a day for leisure (at least in the US), so whether you’re taking time out of a work project, using your much-needed coffee break at the office or staying up late at night, that webinar should be worth it for you to consider it.

Faris Sheikh using Form 3 during a webinar

With so many different types of manufacturing methods available, it’s difficult to decide which one is better suited for your needs, and the overwhelming amount of 3D printers currently on the market makes choosing one challenging, even more so if you need to add software, scanning devices and post-processing machines. 3DPrint.com has been surfing through quite a few webinars; these online sessions are great sources to become more informed about the technology and how to use it. Over the last year, we have tagged along with Faris Sheikh, a growth marketing specialist at Formlabs, to get a glimpse of the company’s new Form 3 printer; witnessed a live demonstration on how Markforged‘s new Blacksmith AI software can help us accurately design 3D printed parts, and learned how to take advantage of high-strength thermoplastics PEEK, PEKK, and ULTEM from specialists at Montreal-based firm AON3D. Balancing so much information is fun, and we learned a lot, yet choosing the right webinar is not easy so we have summarized the top qualities we consider can take your online viewing experience from great to amazing.

Before signing up for your next webinar you might want to read over our six-pointers. We consider a live demonstration to be on the top of our list, followed by experienced public speakers who will address at least one of the challenges when working with the product, as well as allowing for a Q&A session since we have noticed that some of the most interesting tips arise from audience questions; examples of some of the successful experiences are a great way to illustrate what can be achieved with a product, and finally, we give a lot of credit to webinars that stick to the originally scheduled time frame (remember, time is a valuable commodity).

We love powerpoints, they are great visual aids, and extremely useful when speakers need to convey complex terminology and a lot of information. However powerpoints during a 3D printing webinar are ok for a few minutes, but the audience can benefit much more from a live show, watching someone on screen explain a particular process makes the webinar worth your time. We have witnessed almost everything, from scanning and designing parts with CAD software to preparing a machine for printing.

Using Dot3D’s ruggedized tablet, software and RealSense camera for 3D scanning

Last May, 3D scanning enthusiasts were able to tune in to a webinar to witness a live broadcast of DotProduct’s Dot3D during scanning, this is one of the firm’s professional handheld 3D capture solutions which has joined forces with Intel RealSense to better capture real-time 3D data, making both indoor and outdoor 3D capture possible. One of the highlights of the session was a demonstration by company specialist Chris Ahern who performed a live daylight 3D scan of a sample field pipeline, using RealSense’s D415. After capture, Ahern moved onto optimization for cleaning any noise recognized from the data, done within just a few minutes and with ease, showing what it takes to handle the scanning features and post-data analysis. During this webinar, the audience was able to appreciate a walk through all the steps necessary to perform the scan as well as observe how Ahern dealt with one of the more challenging features, needing to manipulate the output a bit to get the acceptable quality required. This is a great example of a company that was able to channel a lot of the qualities we value most.

Some processes like metal printing and machining are not as easy to demonstrate live. In this case, webinars with lots of examples and information supporting the process are very well received by an audience, which is usually more knowledgeable about the specific process and expects to hear about successful cases and know-how. For example, one of Optomec‘s latest webinars proved how useful the company’s laser engineered net shaping (LENS) technology could be when applied on sustainable repairs to some of the most complex machinery around, including plane parts and tank gear repairs. Here, examples were paramount to convey the benefits of the complex machining process.

How Optomec was able to repair broken teeth on a gear thanks to their LENS repair machine

Webinars are one of the most effective online marketing tactics for any business, they usually bring in new customers and help keep users up to date on the latest advances in the technology that they bought. A great way to engage the audience is through a robust Q&A session. Since questions usually come in throughout the presentation, the speaker can choose a few to answer at the end, but we noticed that some of the best webinars have specialists really committed to dealing with unusual and interesting questions. Sauber Motorsport AG (the company operating the Alfa Romeo Sauber Formula 1 Team), went deep into the underlying benefits of SLS additive manufacturing processes during the Q&A of their on-demand webinar, talking about everything from accuracy to printing with different materials. Expert Richard Broad didn’t hold back in the question session proving that this is one of the reasons we really enjoyed their presentation.

Online webinar sessions usually go for an hour tops, so when they extend beyond the allotted time, it can be a bit daunting, the audience usually loses interest and can get easily bored. An average 3D printing webinar should last around 45 minutes, with presentations usually ending after 30 minutes, followed by 10 to 15 minutes for answering questions. However if a speaker will not stop at 30 minutes, presentations can last an hour or more. If companies expect their audience to keep coming back for more online sessions, they need to prove that they can deliver all the necessary information in the promised time.

Web conferences aren’t new, the first ones date from the 1990s and companies have been using them as a tool for years. Today 3D printing webinars are getting better, allowing for audiences around the world to interact, by asking live questions or filling out surveys (which later help the company determine who is tuning in, where from and what industry they work in); having some of the most experienced employees offer technical demonstrations for viewers, and especially trying to prove that their product is worth considering. We’re really looking forward to future webinars, trying to imagine what some of the most innovative minds out there could come up with to engage audiences with their product, such as using virtual reality to help viewers become even more immersed in an interactive webinar experience, or for companies with large room-size machines, a walk through their processes to witness how the systems work would be amazing. But for now, we’ll stick to our six points. What other qualities would make a 3D printing webinar experience worth your viewing time? Join in the discussion.

[Images: 3DPrint.com, Dot3D, Formlabs and Optomec]

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Blueprint Webinar: The Business Case for 3D Printing Spare Parts

In the next decade, 3D printing will massively reduce costs and create new revenue opportunities in spare parts businesses. This growth will be driven by 3D printing’s unique ability to eliminate fixed costs in manufacturing and radically reduce lead times.

The first step in unlocking the potential of 3D printing in your spare parts business is to understand the business case.

In this webinar Aaron Hurd, Consulting Manager at Blueprint, gives an overview of the business case for 3D printing spare parts. He explores both the high-level business case and gives tactical examples of how 3D printing is uniquely positioned to solve cost and lead time issues that often plague spare parts businesses.

In this webinar, you will:

    • Learn how and why 3D printing solves the problems of cost and lead times in spare parts.
    • See real examples of applications where 3D printing provided savings in both cost and lead times.
    • Hear stories of how leading companies are innovating using 3D printing in their spare parts businesses.
    • Gain an understanding of what it takes to deploy a 3D printing capability.
    • See actionable steps to take for jumpstarting 3D printing in your spare parts business.

Blueprint is the world’s leading 3D printing consultancy. We’re engineers, innovators, analysts, and strategists with 15 years of experience helping clients across virtually every industry, at startups and Fortune 500 companies alike. We are laser-focused on helping our clients make sense of 3D printing, from high-level strategy and innovation, to deeply technical design optimization.

If you want to discuss this article or your additive manufacturing strategy, the team at Blueprint is here to help. Let’s say hello.

hello@additiveblueprint.com

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3D Printing News Briefs: August 21, 2018

We’ve got plenty of business news for you in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, and a little scientific research as well. Kelyniam Global has acquired new 3D printing technology, while Rostec makes an investment in technology. One of the earliest SpaceX employees is now an advisor for another aerospace company, the Youngstown Business Incubator has received a federal grant, and SAE International recently hosted a 3D printing webinar. Auburn University has been chosen as the site of a new National Center of Additive Manufacturing Excellence, and a new study discusses 4D printed elastic ceramics.

Kelyniam Global Adds New 3D Printing Capabilities

Using medical models for surgical pre-planning is almost a clinical standard these days. In an effort to increase its current medical modeling skills, custom 3D printed cranial implant manufacturer Kelyniam Global, which works with health systems and surgeons to improve cost-of-care and clinical outcomes, announced that it has expanded its 3D printing capabilities with the acquisition of new technology. This new technology aligns with the company’s reputation as a premium supplier of cranial implants requiring excellence in design and quick turnaround times.

“This state-of-the-art equipment will enable Kelyniam to produce certain medical models on the same 24-hour turnaround schedule we offer for cranial implants. The ability to rapidly print ultrahigh resolution models with high accuracy across our entire platform is a significant differentiator in our industry,” said Kelyniam COO Chris Breault.

Rostec Investing in Industrial 3D Printing Development

Russia’s state technologies corporation Rostec (also Rostek and Rostekh), which develops products for high-tech and communication systems, has invested nearly 3 billion rubles to create a specialized center for industrial 3D printing. The Center for Additive Technologies (CAC), with a goal of reducing the amount of time and money it takes to launch new products, will offer customers a full range of services and advanced 3D printers. The CAC’s main task will be introducing industrial 3D printing to high-tech industries that could really use it.

“Industrial 3D printing is becoming one of the indispensable attributes of modern industry. We see the high potential of this technology and introduce it into our production practice,” said Anatoly Serdyukov, the Industrial Director of the aviation cluster at Rostekh State Corporation. “For example, in the JDC today, about three tons of parts per year are produced by the additive technology method. The holding plans to widely use them in the serial production of promising Russian gas turbine engines, which will be certified in 2025 – 2030. The creation of a specialized center will expand the scope of this technology and produce parts for such industries as aircraft building, space, high technology medicine, automotive industry.”

Project participants calculate that the CAC’s first pilot batch of parts will be manufactured there sometime in 2019.

Former SpaceX Employee Becomes Advisor to Relativity Space

Aerospace company Relativity Space hopes to one day 3D print an entire rocket in an effort to lower the cost of space travel, and has been working hard to achieve this goal over the last few years. The company has fired up its 3D printed engine over 100 times so far, and just a few months ago received $35 million in Series B Funding. Now, Relativity Space has announced that Tim Buzza, one of the very first employees at SpaceX – another company working to 3D print rockets – is one of its official advisors.

Jordan Noone, Relativity Space Co-Founder, said “When I was at SpaceX, Tim’s stellar reputation for breadth and depth of engineering and operations was legendary in the industry.”

Buzza spent 12 years helping to develop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft and will advise Relativity Space on organizing the company structure, launch site selection and trades, rocket architecture, structures and avionics, and more.

Federal Grant Awarded to Youngstown Business Incubator

The Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI) is about to receive some new 3D printing software and hardware, thanks to a federal grant. Recently, the Appalachian Regional Commission awarded $185,000 in federal funding to YBI. The new 3D printers and 3D printing software that the grant will fund, in addition to being a boon for YBI, will also help to strengthen its frequent area partners Youngstown State University (YSU) and America Makes.

“Each additional piece of equipment further strengthen us as a national and international leader in additive manufacturing technology and this is a key part of that process,” said Michael Hripko, YSU’s Associative Vice President for Research.

SAE International Recently Held Additive Manufacturing Webinar

Last week, global engineering organization SAE International hosted an hour-long additive manufacturing webinar, called “Considerations When Integrating Additive Manufacturing into Aerospace and Ground Vehicle Development and Production Environment,” for members of the mobility engineering community. The discussion, moderated by the organization’s Senior Global Product Manager Audra Ziegenfuss, was led by four guest speakers: Dr. John Hart, the Director of MIT’s Center for Additive and Digital Advanced Production Technologies (ADAPT); Bill Harris, a Technical Fellow with Lockheed Martin; and Adam Rivard, the Additive Manufacturing Director for LAI International, Inc.

Topics covered during SAE International’s webinar last week included novel AM methods that translate to automotive and aerospace applications, the risks involved in introducing 3D printed, flight-critical parts, and the anticipated timeline for general acceptance of 3D printed parts by aerospace customers.

Auburn University Site of New National Center of AM Excellence

Recently, Auburn University in Alabama, ASTM International, and NASA launched two new centers of excellence in additive manufacturing with the shared goal of speeding up research and development, standardization and innovation in 3D printing. Researchers at Auburn’s National Center for Additive Manufacturing Excellence (NCAME), will conduct interdisciplinary research, while also striving to grow effective collaboration between industry, government, academia, and not-for-profit.

“The Center of Excellence is going to facilitate us bringing together the best technical experts in industry, government, and academia, and that’s going to help us develop the very best standards for this emerging technology,” said Katharine Morgan, the President of ASTM International.

New Study On 4D Printed Elastic Ceramics

3D printing EDCs. (A) 3D printed large-scale elastomeric honeycomb. (B) 3D printed microlattices and (C) honeycombs of PDMS NCs and first EDCs and second EDCs.

Shape-morphing assembly is a great technology for applications in 4D printing, biomaterials, life sciences, and robotics, and multiple materials like ceramics, silicone, and polymers are used. But, we’ve not yet seen much in the way of ceramic structures derived from soft precursors that allow for elastic deformation. Polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) have some excellent properties, such as high thermal stability and chemical resistance to oxidation and corrosion, and their microstructures can be fine-tuned through tailored polymer systems.

While we’re seeing a lot in the way of 3D printing soft materials, current ceramic precursors are not flexible and stretchable. Guo Liu, Yan Zhao, Ge Wu, and Jian Lu with the City University of Hong Kong published a paper, titled “Origami and 4D printing of elastomer-derived ceramic structures,” that explains how they developed silicone rubber matrix nanocomposites (NCs) that can be 3D printed and deformed into elastomer structures with complex shapes and transformed into mechanically strong EDCs.

The abstract reads, “Four-dimensional (4D) printing involves conventional 3D printing followed by a shape-morphing step. It enables more complex shapes to be created than is possible with conventional 3D printing. However, 3D-printed ceramic precursors are usually difficult to be deformed, hindering the development of 4D printing for ceramics. To overcome this limitation, we developed elastomeric poly(dimethylsiloxane) matrix nanocomposites (NCs) that can be printed, deformed, and then transformed into silicon oxycarbide matrix NCs, making the growth of complex ceramic origami and 4D-printed ceramic structures possible. In addition, the printed ceramic precursors are soft and can be stretched beyond three times their initial length. Hierarchical elastomer-derived ceramics (EDCs) could be achieved with programmable architectures spanning three orders of magnitude, from 200 μm to 10 cm. A compressive strength of 547 MPa is achieved on the microlattice at 1.6 g cm−3. This work starts a new chapter of printing high-resolution complex and mechanically robust ceramics, and this origami and 4D printing of ceramics is cost-efficient in terms of time due to geometrical flexibility of precursors. With the versatile shape-morphing capability of elastomers, this work on origami and 4D printing of EDCs could lead to structural applications of autonomous morphing structures, aerospace propulsion components, space exploration, electronic devices, and high-temperature microelectromechanical systems.”

Discuss these stories and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.