In recent years, more and more environmentally friendly projects are being developed in many countries all around the world. Similar to earlier successful projects, like for example the Netherlands-based Print your City, R3direct from Italy is now also starting to use additive manufacturing as an eco-friendly option to develop street furniture. By using plastic waste as their main material and with the help of modern technology, the company is now 3D printing benches. And the first example of this is already installed in the heart of Lucca, Italy. Called USE (Urban Safety Everyday), these benches are intended to show that technologies can make it possible to significantly reduce plastic waste by reusing the recycled material.
Italian manufacturing company introduces new, eco-friendly public benches made of recycled plastic using 3D printing technologies.
In the future, smart clothing might monitor our posture, communicate with smartphones and manage our body temperature. But first, scientists need to find a way to cost-effectively print intricate, flexible and durable circuits onto a variety of fabrics. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have developed a conductive 3D printing ink made of liquid metal droplets coated with alginate, a polymer derived from algae.
Conventional electronics are rigid and unable to withstand the twisting and stretching motions that clothing undergoes during typical daily activities. Because of their fluid nature and excellent conductivity, gallium-based liquid metals (LMs) are promising materials for flexible electronics. However, LMs don’t stick well to fabrics, and their large surface tension causes them to ball up during 3D printing, rather than form continuous circuits. Yong He and colleagues wanted to develop a new type of conductive ink that could be 3D printed directly onto clothing in complex patterns.
To make their ink, the researchers mixed LM and alginate. Stirring the solution and removing the excess liquid resulted in LM microdroplets coated with an alginate microgel shell. The ink was very thick until it was squeezed through a nozzle for 3D printing, which broke hydrogen bonds in the microgel and made it more fluid. Once the ink reached the fabric surface, the hydrogen bonds reformed, causing the printed pattern to maintain its shape. The team 3D printed the new ink onto a variety of surfaces, including paper, polyester fabrics, nonwoven fabrics and acrylic-based tape. Although the printed patterns were not initially conductive, the researchers activated them by stretching, pressing or freezing, which ruptured the dried alginate networks to connect the LM microdroplets.
3D printers may soon get better at producing intricate metal and plastic parts, thanks to new software developed at the University of Michigan that reduces harmful heat buildup in laser powder bed fusion printers.
Called SmartScan, the software demonstrated a 41% improvement in heat distribution and a 47% reduction in deformations in a recent study.
It’s also likely to speed the manufacturing process in two ways: by reducing the need for printers to slow down to help with cooling and by significantly reducing heat-caused defects that must be corrected after printing.
The researchers were inspired by actual skin. Researchers have been working on robot dexterity for several years now trying to give the machines human-like sensitivity. This has been no easy task as even the most advanced machines struggle with this concept.
Now the team is working on making the artificial fingertip as sensitive to fine detail as the real thing. Currently, the 3D-printed skin is thicker than real skin which may be hindering this process. As such, Lepora’s team is now working on 3D-printing structures on the microscopic scale of human skin.
“Our aim is to make artificial skin as good – or even better — than real skin,” concluded Professor Lepora. The end result could have many applications in soft robotics including in the Metaverse.
Siemens and Roboze have announced that they are collaborating to develop workflows dedicated to the industrialization of 3D printing. This includes an emphasis on expanding the use of the technology in energy, mobility, and aerospace. Though the exact nature of the agreement isn’t fully elucidated, it marks a significant shift for both firms.
Siemens is the largest industrial manufacturer in Europe, with a storied history spanning nearly two centuries and annual revenues totaling €62.3 billion, as of 2021. In contrast, Roboze is a comparatively new firm, established in Italy in 2013. The company has since built itself up into a leader in industrial-grade material extrusion 3D printers, earning such customers as Ducati, GE, and the U.S. Army.
The partners do not exactly clarify their intent except to say that they will work together to “increase the productivity, competitiveness and efficiency of manufacturers that have embarked on the path to the future of industry.” They do mention focusing on “digitalization and automation projects”.
The result is a series of specialized accessories, including a sunglass holder, a can holder, and a phone or cardholder explicitly created for the new Peugeot 308. Made using the latest HP Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology, the products are not just innovative but also “pleasant to the touch, light, solid and easy to use.” According to the brand, they go a long way in enhancing the car’s interior, which showcases a new generation of Peugeot’s i-Cockpit –a patented new design that revolutionizes the driver’s cockpit through advanced ergonomics, head-up digital instrument displays, and interactive touchscreen technology.
According to the brand, this is just one of the first 3D printing used at Peugeot, as the company plans to continue implementing it for more technical parts in future car models. Moreover, as part of the PSA Group, which recently merged with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to create Stellantis, Peugeot is now a sister company to 13 other car manufacturers, including Dodge, Jeep, and Maserati, so looking at the bigger picture, we can imagine that the use of additive manufacturing will trickle down to the other brands under the Stellantis umbrella.
Engineers at Ford’s Advanced Manufacturing Center have tasked the innovative robot on wheels – called Javier – with operating the 3D printers completely on its own. The autonomous process enables the 3D printer to run continuously with no human interaction needed, increasing throughput and reducing the cost of custom-printed products.
Ford says Javier is always on time, very precise in its movements, mostly spends its day doing nothing but 3D printing, only taking a “short break” to recharge the batteries. The company has achieved great accuracy with Javier, using its feedback to significantly reduce margins of error. The method can also be applied to a vast array of robots already working at the company to increase efficiency and reduce cost.
Ford has filed several patents for the technology in its drive to innovate. Javier can communicate with Ford’s 3D printer, something that isn’t necessarily as easy to pull off as it sounds. The robot does not require the use of a camera vision system to “see.”
