Category: 3D Printer

 By  Louis Regnier 

Blackstone Resources AG have announced that their partner ORTEN Electric Trucks will soon present its first commercial vehicle, which will be powered by Blackstone’s new 3D-printed lithium batteries as early as the end of 2022. 

“We are pleased about the strong partnership with ORTEN E-Trucks. This cooperation is very interesting for both sides,” says Serhat Yilmaz, Chief Marketing Officer of Blackstone Technology GmbH, a 100% subsidiary of Blackstone Resources AG. “In order to prove that our advanced batteries have reached market maturity and that there is a great demand for them. Their numerous technical advantages play a major role in practical application.”

At the Press Day (07.12.21) of Blackstone Technology in Döbeln, Saxony, Robert E. Orten the Managing Partner of ORTEN E-Trucks, will present a first, operational commercial vehicle. In the first quarter of 2022, a joint pilot project with Blackstone will start, in which the commercial vehicle will be powered by our world first: 3D-printed batteries according to the Blackstone Thick Layer Technology . “With 20% increased energy density, our load carriers also enable 20% more range,” says Ulrich Ernst, founder and CEO of Blackstone Resources AG. “At the same time, we can drastically reduce environmental impacts in production and avoid 50% of the industry’s usual waste materials.

Continue reading… “New commercial vehicle powered by 3D-printed batteries”

By J. Fingas

Scientists have toyed with printing ear implants for ages, but they’ve usually been more cosmetic than functional. Princeton has just developed a bionic ear that could transcend those mere replacements to offer a full-on upgrade.

Rather than seed hydrogel with cells and call it a day, the researchers 3D printed a blend of calf cells, hydrogel and an integrated, coiled antenna made from silver nanoparticles.

Continue reading… “PRINCETON CRAFTS A 3D PRINTED BIONIC EAR WITH SUPER HEARING, CREEPY LOOKS”

According to the famous MIT professor and father of cybernetics, Norbert Wiener (1894-1964), “intelligent behavior is the result of feedback mechanisms.” From MIT now comes one of its latest projects following in the footsteps of Wiener, which is human prostheses. It intends to combine 3D printing with metamaterials to have capabilities and have a highly specific function. 

MetaSense is a software program developed by a team of researchers from MIT that uses 3D printing for devices that use embedded electrodes in their functioning. The materials are made from repeating and flexible cells that are 3D printed with conductive and non-conductive filament. When compressed, the cells become sensors for a variety of applications. What they are targeting is the field of human prostheses. The focus of the researchers is the concept of feedback.

Continue reading… “The Future of Cybernetics: 3D Printed Prosthetics Plus The Concept of Feedback”

AICT’s 3D printed park

By HAYLEY EVERETT 

Construction 3D printing firm Advanced Intelligent Construction Technology (AICT) has unveiled what it says is the world’s first 3D printed public park at the Shenzen World Exhibition and Convention Center in China.

Spanning 5,523 square meters and made up of more than 2,000 3D printed concrete pieces, the park was built using AICT’s robotic 3D printing technology, which makes use of a modular six-axis robotic arm system and the firm’s proprietary building material. 

Meanwhile, in other construction-related news, researchers from Tongji Universityhave published the results of a study exploring the viability of using recycled fine aggregates (RFA) in 3D mortar printing. The study sought to achieve a more accurate picture of the buildability of 3D concrete printing, and how the use of recycled and waste material impacts upon the fabricated structures. 

“As a form of intelligent construction, 3D printing concrete construction technology boasts great advantages,” said Xu Weiguo, Professor at the Tsinghua University School of Architecture who lead the technical support team for AICT’s 3D printed park. 

Continue reading… “AICT BUILDS WORLD’S FIRST 3D PRINTED PARK, RESEARCHERS EXPLORE CONCRETE 3D PRINTING WITH RECYCLED AGGREGATES”

 By Cai Wenjun      

Doctors from Shanghai No. 9 People’s Hospital created a 3D printing design and equipment for surgery and reconstruction to repair hip implants for long-term stability.

“A novel revision system for complex pelvic defects utilizing 3D-printed custom prosthesis” was published in the Journal of Orthopaedic Translation.

Total hip arthroplasty is one of the most successful surgeries of the 20th century. However, problems like loose implants, infections, fractures and deposition of implants can result in the need for repeated implant repair surgery.

Continue reading… “3D printing technology aids hip joint implant repair”

Ultrafast polymer 3D printers from Nexa3D and performance-matched materials developed by Henkel are key to achieving annual production goals of 100,000 units. 

By Norbert Sparrow

The Chinese word for “crisis” is composed of two characters, one meaning “danger” while the second one signifies “opportunity.” One can feed off the other, in other words. That came to mind as I learned about the world’s first additively manufactured, connected stethoscope developed through a partnership between Nexa3D, a startup that makes ultrafast polymer 3D printers; global giant Henkel; and French medtech startup WeMed. The medical device OEM saw an opportunity in the rapid adoption of telemedicine and remote diagnostics as COVID-19 — the crisis — marched across the globe.

Produced on the NXE400 ultrafast 3D printer using performance-matched Henkel materials, the WeMed Skop is the world’s first connected stethoscope to be additively manufactured in its entirety at scale. Annual production volumes will exceed 100,000 units, according to Nexa3D, which will showcase Skop at RAPID + TCT 2021 at McCormick Place, Chicago, on Sept. 13 to 15.

Continue reading… “Telemedicine Has a New Tool: World’s First 3D-Printed, Connected Stethoscope”

BY SHAWN MCNULTY-KOWAL  

Located in Orani, Sardinia, Exosteel comprises the world’s first housing development to use a steel 3D-printed “exoskeleton” construction system that supports and distributes all the functional elements of the building, inspired by the sculpture work of Costantino Nivola.

Museums are social hubs for travelers. They’re cultural and artistic landmarks first, yes. But they’re also guaranteed spots where tourists can take some respite from long hours spent wandering the city. Near the Nivola Museum in Sardinia, Italy, international design studio Mask Architects visualized a cluster of homes to function as a housing development for the surrounding community. Conceptualized as a small village of modular prefabricated steel houses, Mask Architects is the world’s first architecture and design firm to use a steel 3D-printed “exoskeleton” construction system to build the small village, calling it Exosteel.

Continue reading… “THESE MODULAR PREFAB HOMES COULD BE THE WORLD’S FIRST TO USE A STEEL 3D-PRINTED “EXOSKELETON” CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM!”

The volatile nature of space rocket engines means that many early prototypes end up embedded in dirt banks or decorating the tops of any trees that are unfortunate enough to neighbour testing sites. Unintended explosions are in fact so common that rocket scientists have come up with a euphemism for when it happens: rapid unscheduled disassembly, or RUD for short. 

Every time a rocket engine blows up, the source of the failure needs to be found so that it can be fixed. A new and improved engine is then designed, manufactured, shipped to the test site and fired, and the cycle begins again – until the only disassembly taking place is of the slow, scheduled kind. Perfecting rocket engines in this way is one of the main sources of developmental delays in what is a rapidly expanding space industry. 

Today, 3D printing technology, using heat-resistant metal alloys, is revolutionising trial-and-error rocket development. Whole structures that would have previously required hundreds of distinct components can now be printed in a matter of days. This means you can expect to see many more rockets blowing into tiny pieces in the coming years, but the parts they’re actually made of are set to become larger and fewer as the private sector space race intensifies.

Continue reading… “3D-printed rocket engines: the technology driving the private sector space race”

Written by KC Morganon

This is East 17th Street, a collection of homes that range in size and style. It’s got beautiful construction, lovely walkways and landscaping. But what truly makes this Austin, Texas project unique is that these are the first 3D-printed homes for sale in America. Yes, you read that correctly. These homes were all made with a 3D printer.

Continue reading… “An entire street of 3D printed homes in Texas are move-in ready”

By Andreea Cutieru

Developer 3Strands and construction company ICON have completed new 3D-printed houses for sale in the United States, showcasing the possibilities of additive manufacturing for mass-market housing. Located in Austin, Texas, within a fast-growing neighbourhood, the East 17th St Residences development is designed by Logan Architecture and comprises four units with 3D-printed ground floors whose tectonics reflect the construction technology.

The project was first announced earlier this year and was constructed using ICON’s proprietary technology and an “advanced building material”, which the company claims to be stronger and more resilient than conventional ones. The technology is set to provide safer dwellings, better equipped for withstanding hazards and natural disasters. 

Continue reading… “ICON Completes 3D-Printed Houses In Austin”

Researchers have designed a 3D-bioprinted model of a blood vessel that mimics its state of health and disease, thus paving the way for possible cardiovascular drug advancements with better precision.

Vascular diseases such as aneurysms, peripheral artery disease, and clots inside blood vessels account for 31% of global deaths. Despite this clinical burden, cardiovascular drug advancements have slowed over the past 20 years. The decrease in cardiovascular therapeutic development is attributed to the lack of efficiency in converting possible treatments into approved methods, specifically due to the discrepancy between studies that take place outside the body compared to inside. 
 
The team’s research aims to remodel current methodologies to minimize this gap and improve the translatability of these techniques by directing 3D bioprinting toward vascular medicine. This interdisciplinary and collaborative project was recently published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials. 
 
Bioprinting in 3D is an advanced manufacturing technique capable of producing unique, tissue-shaped constructs in a layer-by-layer fashion with embedded cells, making the arrangement more likely to mirror the native, multicellular makeup of vascular structures. A range of hydrogel bioinks was introduced to design these structures; however, there is a limitation in available bioinks that can mimic the vascular composition of native tissues. Current bioinks lack high printability and are unable to deposit a high density of living cells into complex 3D architectures, making them less effective.

Continue reading… “A new nanoengineered bioink allows scientists to print 3D, anatomically accurate, multicellular blood vessels.”