3D printing technology that prints out in seconds?

When it comes to 3D printer technology, what many people envision is the appearance of laminating resin filaments or metal materials. Therefore, it takes a considerable amount of time to complete printing in order to easily create objects with various shapes or structures.

However, the research team at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne has announced that they have developed a new method for generating 3D objects with high precision in an instant. This technology uses the principle of tomography imaging to cure a photosensitive resin material by irradiating X-rays or ultrasonic waves from all angles around it to make a 3D object. The printing time takes only a few seconds because it can create a solid with a structure to be printed out of materials at once, rather than the existing process of laminating.

The system can make objects as small as 2 cm with an accuracy of 80 μm. In the future, it is planned to be able to create 15cm-sized objects. Paul Delrot, CTO of Readily3D, founded by EPFL to commercialize this system, explains that it uses curing liquid materials through the polymerization process as a phenomenon that causes all light. To finish, it is said that it is necessary to properly calculate in advance at which angle and at what intensity to irradiate light. The advantage of this system is that silicone or acrylic-based materials can be used and no finishing treatment is required.

Objects that can be printed with this technology can be used in all fields. For example, since silicone materials are easy to apply to fusible materials, and objects can be sealed and sterilized after manufacturing, medical applications may be the first to come to mind. The research team says it can be used for tissues, organs, hearing aids, and mouthpieces. Related information can be found here .