A new 3D printer has the principles of a CT scanner. It has light modelling of materials. It will produce objects with unique property combinations in record time.
Technical University of Denmark researchers are working to make a reality with a new 3D printing technology based on light.
According to the scientists, the printer utilizes the principles of a reversed CT scan.
A CT scan provides a three-dimensional image of brain. It recognizes information in a large number of two-dimensional images attained from X-rays projections. These rotate around the patient and reveal different tissue types. The new 3D printer will produce physical objects by letting light rays hit a rotating mass. Then it will shape the mass according to a three-dimensional image made up of two-dimensional images.
The first results of the interdisciplinary project have been published in Nature Communications.
Prints in three planes
The current 3D printers produce objects in 3D. But the actual printing takes place in lower dimensions. Plastic resins is a material cured layer by layer. The new 3D printer will print in three dimensions.
Can adjust the elasticity
Scientists have developed the right apparatus types for a novel recipe of light-sensitive polymeric resin. It is important in order to take advantage of the technology of light-dependent 3D printing.
The printer has succeeded in printing a variety of complex geometries with functionally graded materials.
Scientists explained the printer extends far into commercial production of various items. The printer quickly adjusted the softness and shape of the print. This means the printer has the potential in the vascularization of artificial replacements for patients.
Unprecedented speed
The benefits of the printer lie in future. It has features that could revolutionize 3D printing.
The speed of 3D printing depends on the complexity of the object and the number of voxels. Voxels are 3D pixels. This can be described as all the small dots that form an image.