biomimicry Archives - Perfect 3D Printing Filament

Wool-like material can remember and change shape #WearableWednesday #3DPrinting

The applications for this product are endless. Via Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences on YouTube

SEAS researchers have developed a biocompatible material that can be 3D printed into any shape and pre-programmed with reversible shape memory. The material is made using keratin, a fibrous protein found in hair, nails and shells, extracted from leftover Agora wool used in textile manufacturing. It could be used in anything from self-fitting bras to actuating textiles for medical therapeutics and could help reduce waste in the fashion industry.

Learn more!

Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!

Combining Biomimicry And 3D Printing To Create Smarter Designs

For centuries humans have built products that have been regarded as engineering marvels. We continually enhance and augment our skills to create complex designs and products that draw from the natural world.

Sustainability has always been at the center of nature’s design and this core logic has helped it to survive, sustain and grow. Humans have long strived to create something as complex as nature itself, not realizing the fact that even learning from nature is a big challenge.

Learning from nature is of utmost importance and this fact is emphasized by proponents of biomimicry. Biomimicry is a concept that has emerged as the savior in recent times and it talks about mimicking nature to build products. Biomimicry, coupled with the most powerful manufacturing technology of the recent time – 3D printing, can truly be applied today in real-world applications and its benefits can be enjoyed by generations to come.

What is Biomimicry?

Biomimicry, as defined by the Biomimicry Institute of Montana USA, is an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies. Simply put, biomimicry (bio – nature & mimesis – imitation) means to mimic nature, though it is much more than that. By mimicking or imitating nature, we can build products that can sustain over longer periods of time, utilize fewer resources and be more efficient in its operations.

Biomimicry researchers and supporters believe that nature has already thrived for so many years and so it already has all the answers to create solutions that can sustain for the next billions of years. Animals, plants, and microbes are the consummate engineers. After billions of years of research and development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to survival.

Biomimicry & 3D printing, Together

Biomimicry deals with mimicking nature to create sustainable products. But the core problem lies in creating such products. With the restrictions faced by traditional manufacturing processes, the mimicry is not served well. Fortunately, this problem is solved by the latest manufacturing technique, 3D printing technology. With this combination, the opportunities are endless.

3D printing is by principle a process that replicates nature in how things are manufactured. Like in nature, any creation grows in small increments to subsequently form a larger and more complete object, the 3D printing technology also builds products in a step by step process from scratch.

The similarity is striking and is an exact match to the concept of biomimicry. Complex objects found in nature can now be easily manufactured through 3D printing technology and this can have a significant impact on the entire world. The fusion of biomimicry and 3D printing seems fairly obvious.

The natural combination is already being applied to create solutions that can impact product manufacturing. Let’s take a look at some of these real-world examples.

Honeycomb Patterns

The initial research in combining biomimicry with 3D printing brought the evolution of the honeycomb structures. This form of structure is used in the infill pattern and support structure pattern in 3D printed parts.

Unlike traditional processes, 3D printing can control the infill of any part. Instead of creating a fully solid product, a honeycomb pattern in an object lends greater strength while using less material. In general, most FFF 3D printed objects are only 20-30% full.

The honeycomb pattern obviously originated when engineers studied the cross-section of an actual honeycomb. You can imagine that they decided to experiment the same idea in 3D printing and it has been the go-to infill pattern since then for manufacturing strong parts.

Footwear

As it became an established fact that 3D printing can create any type of complex part, the use of lattice structure has rapidly been incorporated by companies far and wide. Footprint3D, a footwear company, created 3D printed insoles and midsoles which were inspired by insects.

The team observed the wings of insects to create a lattice design. The lattice structure is vital as the midsoles and insoles provide all the support for the feet and allow natural gait. The company can just scan a customer’s foot and automatically design the required structure. But it can also be modified as per individual user providing them with the most optimized and healthy walking experience. The nature-inspired structure is helping customers walk in their own natural way without harming their feet.

The soles were manufactured using a 3D printing technology called Selective Laser Sintering (SLS).

Using Fish Scales to Protect Soldiers

With an effort to work on protection based products like armor, researchers at Northeastern University College of Engineering are studying how nature is protecting itself. The researchers honed down on fishes to study their scales and how they not only offer flexibility but also stiffness. The researchers believe that theirs is a very unique approach to create armor. The team feels that nature provides a very important piece of information on how to develop armor. If they apply fish-based scales in specific places on the soft material layer, it makes the surface stiff instead of elastic.

According to researchers, “The next generation of armor systems are light, perform a lot of functions, and at the same time do not compromise on protection. And nature provides very important information in terms of armor development.”

But the researchers concluded that their research and the subsequent product will not be possible without the use of 3D printing and the variety of materials it provides, which allows people to overcome the limits of nature using its own patterns.

Graphene

Graphene is a naturally occurring material that has unique properties, namely being one of the strongest materials out there while also being extremely lightweight. Due to these properties, it is widely used in energy storage, optical electronics, composite materials, and biological engineering applications. Its outstanding ability to conduct heat, as well as electricity, enables it to be used in cars, buildings, filtration devices, and even airplanes.

But it used to be a very difficult material to be used and operated upon until 3D printing came along. MIT researchers are now able to create new graphene structures for 3D printing. Biomimicry allowed them to learn about the material and how to work with it. They used the 2D architecture of graphene in 3D structure to create spongy material that potentially can be a game-changer in additive manufacturing.

The post Combining Biomimicry And 3D Printing To Create Smarter Designs appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

The First Robotically 3D-Printed Concrete Column and Performance Stage #ArtTuesday #3DPrinting #ConcreteChoreography

These organic seeming columns were actually 3D-Printed in less than 3 hours!

Via Design Milk:

Concrete Choreography is the collaborative efforts between Digital Building Technologies and the Origen Festival in Riom, Switzerland, an installation consisting of nine 2.7m tall columns. Each column is 3D printed in layered extrusions of concrete, resulting in a muscular bio-organic extension that only requires 2.5 hours to print, a process made possible through technology developed by ETH Zurich, with the support of NCCR DFAB.

Learn more!

Every Tuesday is Art Tuesday here at Adafruit! Today we celebrate artists and makers from around the world who are designing innovative and creative works using technology, science, electronics and more. You can start your own career as an artist today with Adafruit’s conductive paints, art-related electronics kits, LEDs, wearables, 3D printers and more! Make your most imaginative designs come to life with our helpful tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System. And don’t forget to check in every Art Tuesday for more artistic inspiration here on the Adafruit Blog!

Arizona State University and PADT Receive Grant to Research Biomimicry and 3D Printing

Biomimicry is the the practice of basing design off of natural structures, such as honeycombs, for example. It has been used frequently in conjunction with 3D printing, as researchers, designers and engineers take advantage of 3D printing’s ability to create complex structures like those created by nature.

Arizona State University and Phoenix Analysis and Design Technologies (PADT) are frequent collaborators who have just received a $127,000 Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase 1 Grant from NASA. The purpose of the grant is to allow the two institutions to further study in biomimicry and 3D printing.

“We’re honored to continue advanced research on biomimicry with our good friends and partners at ASU,” said Rey Chu, Principal and Co-Founder, PADT. “With our combined expertise in 3D printing and computer modeling, we feel that our research will provide a breakthrough in the way that we design objects for NASA, and our broad range of product manufacturing clients.”

PADT recently helped NASA to develop more than 100 parts for the Orion Mission, its manned spaceflight to Mars. NASA applications for this latest grant will include the design and manufacture of high performance materials for use in heat exchangers, lightweight structures and space debris resistant skins. If the first phase is successful, PADT and ASU will be eligible for another, larger grant from NASA.

“New technologies in imaging and manufacturing, including 3D printing, are opening possibilities for mimicking biological structures in a way that has been unprecedented in human history,” said Dhruv Bhate, Associate Professor, Arizona State University. “Our ability to build resilient structures while significantly reducing the weight will benefit product designers and manufacturers who leverage the technology.”

We spoke to Bhate and Eric Miller, Co-Founder and Principal at PADT, for further details about the work that will be taking place under the grant.

What kinds of biological structures are going to be studied under the grant?

“In Phase I, the research is focused on insect nests and the relationship between material and design since the nests are constructed with a range of materials such as bees’ wax, paper and clay. The baseline natural model is the wild honeybee comb, along with nests made by other social insects such as wasps and hornets. These types of structures are perfect for replication with 3D printing because insects build structures in an additive way as well. Many of these shapes can only be created using an additive process, in nature and in industry.”

How has biomimicry been used in industries such as aerospace in the past?

“Hexahedral sandwich panels, which are like a single layer, flat bee-hive structure, have been used in aircraft design for decades. Many aircrafts that are made with carbon fiber composites use flat hex structures to provide light weight strength. With 3D printing, manufacturers can take this proven structure and move beyond flat panels.

A recent example of biomimicry in aerospace was a concept design by Airbus engineers who adapted the venation patterns in the Amazonian water lily to the design of wing spoiler to be 3D printed in metal with the laser power bed fusion process. Airbus has also investigated the use of surface textures that mimic sharkskin to reduce drag.”

What kind of work have ASU and PADT done with biomimicry so far?

“In 2016, PADT won a multi-million-dollar grant from America Makes, a national additive manufacturing innovation institute, to conduct research on lattice structures, a type of structure that has potential to change infrastructure and product development as a whole, especially in aerospace and medical. Part of this research was to develop predictive models for the mechanical behavior of cellular materials including honeycomb structures.

ASU and PADT also published a paper on biomimetic cellular materials at the 2016 Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium, America’s largest academic conference on Additive Manufacturing.

The STTR grant is the first research grant PADT and ASU have won as a team that directly involves the use of biomimicry in guiding design.”

What industries will be focused on to benefit from the research?

“The aerospace industry is the primary beneficiary from this research. In the aerospace industry, structures need to have certain properties such as strength or insulation, while remaining extremely lightweight.

Moving forward, this work can be applied to the defense industry for armor design, to the biomedical industry for improving implant design, and to consumer applications such as footwear, in which cushioning, and durability is of importance.

The same advantages of biomimicry in the aerospace world – less weight for greater strength in complex shapes – also benefit the automotive industry. As the automotive industry moves to more efficient electric vehicles, structures that use biomimicry will become more prevalent.”

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.

AMPHIBIO: A Gill Garment For Our Aquatic Future #WearableWednesday

Biomimicry designer Jun Kamei has created the Amphibio in response to rising sea levels. The gill-like device claims to capture oxygen and disperse carbon dioxide from surrounding water.

Via Junkamei.com:

By 2100, a temperature rise of 3.2℃ is predicted to happen, causing a sea level rise affecting more that 30% of the global population and submerging the megacities situated in the coastal areas.

AMPHIBIO is a 3D printed amphibious garment which function as a gill. Designed for a future where humankind lives in very close proximity with water, it provides daily comfort to people who spend as much time in the water as on the land.

AMPHIBIO is made out of a special porous hydrophobic material which supports underwater breathing by replenishing oxygen from the surrounding water and dissipating carbon dioxide which accumulate in the system, inspired from the gill of water diving insects. The material can be shaped in complex form using 3D printing. Patent pending.

Learn more!

3D Printing News Briefs: June 29, 2018

In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs (the last one this month, how is the summer going by so quickly?!), a few companies are announcing special honors and recognitions, and then we’re sharing stories stories about some interesting new 3D printing projects, and finally wrapping things up before the weekend with some business news. Renishaw’s Director of R&D has been honored by the Royal Academy of Engineering, while MakerBot earned an important designation for its 3D printing certification program for educators and Renovis Surgical Technologies received FDA approval for its new 3D printed implant. Festo is introducing three new bionic robots, one of which is partially 3D printed, and CINTEC is using 3D printing for its restoration of a famous government house. GE wants to use blockchains for 3D printing protection, and ExOne announced a global cost realignment.

Royal Academy of Engineering Honors Renishaw’s Chris Sutcliffe

Earlier this week, the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) awarded a Silver Medal to Professor Chris Sutcliffe, the Director of Research and Development of the Additive Manufacturing Products Division (AMPD) for global metrology company Renishaw. This award is given to recognize outstanding personal contributions to British engineering, and is given to no more than four people a year. The Silver Medal Sutcliffe received was in recognition of his part in driving the development of metal 3D printed implants in both human and veterinary surgery, and also celebrates his successful commercialization of 3D printed products with several companies, including Renishaw, and the University of Liverpool.

“Throughout my career I’ve worked hard to commercialise additive manufacturing technology. As well as AM’s benefit to the aerospace and automotive sectors, commercialisation of AM and associated technologies has been lifechanging for those with musculoskeletal diseases,” said Sutcliffe. “The award celebrates the successes of the engineers I have worked with to achieve this and I am grateful to receive the award to recognise our work.”

MakerBot’s Certification Program for Educators Gets Important Designation

One of the leaders in 3D printing for education is definitely MakerBot, which has sent its 3D printers to classrooms all over the world. Just a few months ago, the company launched a comprehensive, first of its kind 3D printing certification program, which trains educators to become 3D printing experts and create custom curriculum for STEAM classrooms. An independent review of the program showed that it meets the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards, and it has earned the prestigious ISTE Seal of Alignment from the accreditation body. In addition, a survey conducted over the last three years of over 2,000 MakerBot educators shows that the percentage of teachers reporting that MakerBot’s 3D printers met their classroom needs has doubled in just two years.

“This data shows that MakerBot isn’t just growing its user base in schools. We’re measurably improving teachers’ experiences using 3D printing,” said MakerBot CEO Nadav Goshen. “Much of this impressive teacher satisfaction is thanks to the effort we’ve put into solving real classroom problems—like the availability of 3D printing curriculum with Thingiverse Education, clear best practices with the MakerBot Educators Guidebook, and now training with the new MakerBot Certification program.”

Earlier this week, MakerBot exhibited its educator solutions at the ISTE Conference in Chicago.

FDA Grants Clearance for 3D Printed Interbody Spinal Fusion System

California-headquartered Renovis Surgical Technologies, Inc. announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its Tesera SA Hyperlordotic ALIF Interbody Spinal Fusion System. All Tesera implants are 3D printed, and use a proprietary, patent-pending design to create a porous, roughened surface structure, which maximizes biologic fixation, strength, and stability to allow for bone attachment and in-growth to the implant.

The SA implant, made with Renovis’s trabecular technology and featuring a four-screw design and locking cover plate, is a titanium stand-alone anterior lumbar interbody fusion system. They are available in 7˚, 12˚, 17˚, 22˚ and 28˚ lordotic angles, with various heights and footprints for proper lordosis and intervertebral height restoration, and come with advanced instrumentation that’s designed to decrease operative steps during surgery.

Festo Introduces Partially 3D Printed Bionic Robot

German company Festo, the robotics research of which we’ve covered before, has introduced its Bionic Learning Network’s latest project – three bionic robots inspired by a flic-flac spider, a flying fox, and a cuttlefish. The latter of these biomimetic robots, the BionicFinWave, is a partially 3D printed robotic fish that can autonomously maneuver its way through acrylic water-filled tubing. The project has applications in soft robotics, and could one day be developed for tasks like underwater data acquisition, inspection, and measurement.

The 15 oz robot propels itself forward and backward through the tubing using undulation forces from its longitudinal fins, while also communicating with and transmitting data to the outside world with a radio. The BionicFinWave’s lateral fins, molded from silicone, can move independently of each other and generate different wave patterns, and water-resistant pressure and ultrasound sensors help the robot register its depth and distance to the tube walls. Due to its ability to realize complex geometry, 3D printing was used to create the robot’s piston rod, joints, and crankshafts out of plastic, along with its other body elements.

Cintec Using 3D Printing on Restoration Work of the Red House

Cintec North America, a leader in the field of structural masonry retrofit strengthening, preservation, and repair, completes structural analysis and design services for projects all around the world, including the Egyptian Pyramids, Buckingham Palace, Canada’s Library of Parliament, and the White House. Now, the company is using 3D printing in its $1 million restoration project on the historic Red House, which is also known as the seat of Parliament for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and was built between 1844 and 1892.

After sustaining damage from a fire, the Red House, featuring signature red paint and Beaux-Arts style architecture, was refurbished in 1904. In 2007, Cintec North America was asked to advise on the required repairs to the Red House, and was given permission to install its Reinforcing Anchor System. This landmark restoration project – the first where Cintec used 3D printing for sacrificial parts – denotes an historic moment in structural engineering, because one of the reinforcement anchors inserted into the structure, measuring 120 ft, is thought to be the longest in the world.

GE Files Patent to Use Blockchains For 3D Printing Protection

According to a patent filing recently released by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), industry giant GE wants to use a blockchain to verify the 3D printed parts in its supply chain and protect itself from fakes. If a replacement part for an industrial asset is 3D printed, anyone can reproduce it, so end users can’t verify its authenticity, and if it was made with the right manufacturing media, device, and build file. In its filing, GE, which joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA) consortium in March, outlined a method for setting up a database that can validate, verify, and track the manufacturing process, by integrating blockchains into 3D printing.

“It would therefore be desirable to provide systems and methods for implementing a historical data record of an additive manufacturing process with verification and validation capabilities that may be integrated into additive manufacturing devices,” GE stated in the patent filing.

ExOne to Undergo Global Cost Realignment

3D printer and printed products provider ExOne has announced a global cost realignment program, in order to achieve positive earnings and cash flow in 2019. In addition to maximizing efficiency through aligning its capital resources, ExOne’s new program will be immediately reducing the company’s consulting projects and headcount – any initial employee reductions will take place principally in consulting and select personnel. The program, which has already begun, will focus first on global operations, with an emphasis on working capital initiatives, production overhead, and general and administrative spending. This program will continue over the next several quarters.

“With the essential goal of significantly improving our cash flows in 2019, we have conducted a review of our cost structure and working capital practices. We are evaluating each position and expense within our organization, with the desire to improve productivity. As a result, we made the difficult decision to eliminate certain positions within ExOne, reduce our spending on outside consultants and further rely on some of our recently instituted and more efficient processes,” explained S. Kent Rockwell, ExOne’s Chairman and CEO. “Additional cost analyses and changes to business practices to improve working capital utilization will be ongoing over the next several quarters and are expected to result in additional cost reductions and improved cash positions. All the while, we remain focused on our research and development goals and long-term revenue growth goals, which will not be impacted by these changes, as we continue to lead the market adoption of our binder jetting technology.”

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