Researchers developed a 3D printer that can automatically determine the printing parameters of an unknown material. This could help engineers use emerging renewable or recycled materials that have fluctuating properties, which makes them difficult to print with.

While 3D printing has exploded in popularity, many of the plastic materials these printers use to create objects cannot be easily recycled. While new sustainable materials are emerging for use in 3D printing, they remain difficult to adopt because 3D printer settings need to be adjusted for each material, a process generally done by hand.

To print a new material from scratch, one must typically set up to 100 parameters in software that controls how the printer will extrude the material as it fabricates an object. Commonly used materials, like mass-manufactured polymers, have established sets of parameters that were perfected through tedious, trial-and-error processes.

A team of scientists have developed a new FDM 3D printer that can automatically create parameters for unknown materials.

Material presets for mass-manufactured polymers can be found on most 3D printers. However, the 3D printing parameters for sustainable and recycled materials need to be manually adjusted. This trial and error process can be frustrating and time-consuming, limiting the adoption of environmentally friendly filaments.

Experts from MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA), the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Greece’s National Center for Scientific Research (Demokritos) are working to change this.