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Category: 3D printing

Simulated moon soil and recyclable thermoplastics could help build future space infrastructure

Transporting material from Earth to the moon is an expensive proposition: By some estimates, moving a single kilogram (2.2 pounds) can cost more than $1 million. Any plan to build a permanent human habitat up there will depend on bringing that sky-high cost down.

Engineers and planners have long eyed lunar regolith —the small, sharp rocky shards and dust that cover the moon’s surface—as an invaluable and abundant printing ingredient. Now, a Concordia study shows how combining regolith with recycled high-performance plastic could be used to 3D print components onsite for future lunar missions.

The researchers created a composite using lunar regolith simulant and a recycled, high-performance thermoplastic known as poly(ether ketone ketone), or PEKK. They then used the composite to successfully 3D print components designed to absorb energy and deform under load rather than serve as permanent structural components. These structures, known as sacrificial structures, were used to measure how well the composite could withstand stresses similar to those the landing mechanism of a lunar module would have to absorb on impact.

3D-printed scaffolds help turn waste methane into useful chemical using less power than liquid reactors

When landfills and wastewater treatment plants create methane as a byproduct, much of it is simply burned and its value is lost. But the gas is an energy-rich resource that could be recycled as a fuel, chemical feedstock or bioproduct. Capturing and converting waste methane offers an opportunity to recover energy and create useful products from an otherwise wasted gas stream.

To harness that resource, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a solid-state bioreactor that can convert methane into succinate, a valuable chemical used to make polymers, stabilize drugs, enhance food flavor and more. The small, efficient bioreactor performs more than 10 times better than conventional liquid-state systems—and it consumes less power.

“Bioproduction using poorly soluble gases has long been limited by slow mass transfer and low efficiency because conventional liquid-phase bioreactors are not well suited for gas fermentation,” said LLNL scientist and corresponding author Fang Qian. “With growing interest in recovering energy and valuable products from waste gas streams, new bioreactor technologies designed specifically for gas fermentation are greatly needed.”

3D-printed tissue restores erectile function and aids reproduction in animal study

Erectile dysfunction affects over 40% of men over 40, yet our understanding of the condition remains limited. Research on this issue has mostly relied on real organs, making it difficult to study the detailed interaction between blood flow and tissue during an erection.

In a recent study published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, a team of scientists from China, Japan and the U.S. presented a 3D printed hydrogel-based penile model complete with essential blood vessels to mimic the natural function of a penis.

Once implanted into rabbits and pigs with penile deformities, the bioengineered organ enabled them to mate and reproduce within weeks.

3Dprinted perfused models of the penis for the study of penile physiology and for restoring erectile function in rabbits and pigs Biomedical Engineering

3D-printed models of the penis can facilitate the study of penile physiology and the repair of penile defects, as shown via a reconstructed and implanted corpus cavernosum that restored erectile function and mating capacity in rabbits and pigs.

Chinaled team uses 3Dprinted male sex organ for ED treatment in world first

ED affects more than 40 per cent of men aged 40 and above. The team of researchers used hydrogel-based bioinks to develop a 3D-printed penile implant system able to anatomically replicate all functional components of natural erectile tissue.

The animal subjects – pigs and rabbits – exhibited restored erectile capacity post-implantation, with reproductive success rates surging from 25 per cent in the control group to 100 per cent in the treatment group, the team said.

Details of the landmark study were published in Nature Biomedical Engineering on March 4.

UBC scientists discover how to 3D print testicular cells

In a pair of world firsts, UBC scientists have 3D printed human testicular cells and identified promising early signs of sperm-producing capabilities.

The researchers, led by UBC urology assistant professor Dr. Ryan Flannigan, hope the technique will one day offer a solution for people living with presently untreatable forms of male infertility.

“Infertility affects 15 per cent of couples and male factors are a contributing cause in at least half those cases,” said Dr. Flannigan, whose lab is based at the Vancouver Prostate Centre at Vancouver General Hospital.

Sonic microrobots burst into motion without batteries or motors

Not just any sound, but specifically Helmholtz resonance. In simple words, it’s the same phenomenon that happens when you blow air across the neck of a bottle. The air trapped inside the bottle vibrates strongly at a certain frequency – that’s why you can hear a humming sound. A glass bottle is an example of what scientists call an acoustic cavity. A cavity can really be any hollow structure, round or bell-shaped, made from 3D-printed plastics, glass, or rubber-like polymers.

When sound waves make the air trapped inside a cavity vibrate, the cavity creates a concentrated stream of air going out. The air coming back in is more spread out than the air going out, and this imbalance is what produces the pushing force, or thrust, needed to move an object.

This is not the first time scientists have used sound to move things. Researchers have long known how to levitate objects with sound waves, but there is an important difference here: in the previous experiments, the passive objects relied on external sound waves to physically push them. But in the current research, the scientists found a way to harness ambient acoustic energy and convert it into mechanical thrust – using sound to generate movement.

3D-printed ceramic waveguide lasers could surpass the power of glass fiber lasers by 10 times

At the bottom of the ocean, optical fibers transmit telecommunications and internet data around the world. Waveguides make that feat possible by channeling and amplifying the light—and therefore the data within—over enormous distances.

The technology goes beyond undersea cables. Waveguiding optics are among the most important advances in photonics since the invention of the laser. They are fundamental to the structure of glass fiber lasers, which are used for high-power national security applications like counter-drone laser systems and missile defense.

3Dprinted devices could streamline the production of drugdelivery microparticles

MIT researchers have demonstrated a low-cost design of specialized electronic nozzles, called triaxial electrospray emitters, that could be used to manufacture time-release drug-delivery particles or self-healing materials efficiently and at scale.

Triaxial electrospray emitters use electricity to precisely dispense three liquids from microscopic nozzles to generate a steady stream with three distinct fluid layers. The liquid forms multilayered droplets, which can solidify into layered microparticles.

For instance, an array of triaxial electrospray emitters can be used to make three-layer drug-delivery nanoparticles. The outer layer might slowly erode in the stomach, revealing a second material that controls the release of a core material, which delivers medicine to a specific area of the intestines.

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