Transcript
By rethinking the whole approach to 3D printing, and the chemistry and physics behind the process, a Silicon Valley startup called Carbon3D Inc. has developed a new technology that can create parts radically faster than traditional technologies. It does this by essentially "growing" them in a pool of liquid.
The breakthrough technology was revealed at a TED talk on March 16 and also appeared as the cover article in the March 20 print issue of Science.
This 3D printing technology enables objects to rise from a liquid medium continuously, rather than being built layer-by-layer as they have been for the past 25 years. As such, it represents a fundamentally new approach to 3D printing.
It allows ready-to-use products to be made 25 to 100 times faster than other 3D printing methods and creates previously unachievable geometries that open opportunities for innovation, not only in healthcare and medicine, but also in other major industries such as automotive and aviation.
The technology is called CLIP, which stands for Continuous Liquid Interface Production. It works by manipulating light and oxygen to fuse objects in liquid media, creating the first 3D printing process that uses tunable photochemistry instead of the layer-by-layer approach that has defined the technology for decades.
The process involves projecting beams of light through an oxygen-permeable window into a liquid resin. Working in tandem, light and oxygen control the solidification of the resin, creating commercially viable objects that can have feature sizes below 20 microns; that's less than one-quarter of the thickness of a piece of printer paper.
The team is currently pursuing advances based on the technology, as well as new materials that are compatible with it. CLIP enables a wide range of materials to be used to make 3D parts with novel properties, including elastomers, silicones, nylon-like materials, ceramics, and biodegradable materials.
The technique itself provides a blueprint for synthesizing novel materials that can further research in materials science.
In addition to using new materials, CLIP can allow scientists to make stronger objects with unique geometries that other manufacturing techniques cannot achieve.
Since CLIP facilitates 3D polymeric object fabrication in a matter of minutes, instead of hours or days, it will be possible within coming years for personalized coronary stents, dental implants, or prosthetics to be 3D printed on demand in a medical setting to meet the needs of a specific patient.
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