<
https://news.mit.edu/2024/researchers-demonstrate-first-chip-based-3d-printer-0606>
"Imagine a portable 3D printer you could hold in the palm of your hand. The
tiny device could enable a user to rapidly create customized, low-cost objects
on the go, like a fastener to repair a wobbly bicycle wheel or a component for
a critical medical operation.
Researchers from MIT and the University of Texas at Austin took a major step
toward making this idea a reality by demonstrating the first chip-based 3D
printer. Their proof-of-concept device consists of a single, millimeter-scale
photonic chip that emits reconfigurable beams of light into a well of resin
that cures into a solid shape when light strikes it.
The prototype chip has no moving parts, instead relying on an array of tiny
optical antennas to steer a beam of light. The beam projects up into a liquid
resin that has been designed to rapidly cure when exposed to the beam’s
wavelength of visible light.
By combining silicon photonics and photochemistry, the interdisciplinary
research team was able to demonstrate a chip that can steer light beams to 3D
print arbitrary two-dimensional patterns, including the letters M-I-T. Shapes
can be fully formed in a matter of seconds.
In the long run, they envision a system where a photonic chip sits at the
bottom of a well of resin and emits a 3D hologram of visible light, rapidly
curing an entire object in a single step.
This type of portable 3D printer could have many applications, such as enabling
clinicians to create tailor-made medical device components or allowing
engineers to make rapid prototypes at a job site."
Via
Fix the News:
<
https://fixthenews.com/good-news-democracy-india-reproductive-rights-ozone/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
