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Towards 3D printing of an object in a few seconds?

Researchers from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have designed a 3D printer that works with a laser. She is able to create very precise small objects in just a few seconds.

The3D printing is now accessible to everyone, but in any case, the main worry stay here duration creation and precision of an object by agglomerating thin layers of material. Today, researchers from the Laboratory of Applied Photonic Devices (LAPD) the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have developed a method to create small 3D objects in less than a minute. They are not the only ones to floor on the subject. Californian researchers also experimented an equivalent system allowing almost instantaneous and precise printing.

It’s a gel organic or plastic in the state liquid who is employed. Then, ” it’s all a matter of light“, As explains Paul Delrot, one of the researchers who became the boss of the company Readily3D created for the occasion in order to market the process developed by LAPD in the long term. It is actually the light produced by a laser beam who comes to target the mass liquid to sculpt it, by heating with more or less intensity the different parts of the gel. The heat of laser hardens the liquid through a process of polymerization.

3D printed arteries

The bulk of the work relies on the precision of algorithms. The angles and the dosage beam power are essential to achieving an accurate result. At the moment, the objects are only two centimeters long. On the other hand, the precision is unequaled since it reaches 80 micrometers. The team intends to go further and develop a printer that can create objects up to 15 cm. The other advantage of the technology is that it can sculpt soft objects or from these gels. This is also possible with current 3D printers, but the objects produced degrade quite quickly. This is not the case with the invention of the Swiss laboratory.

The team published their findings in the journal Nature Communications and scientists point out that the technology could be used in medicine and biology. The laser is actually capable of printing tissue or prostheses in organic materials. In fact, researchers are currently working with a surgeon to experiment with printing in 3D arteries. For the moment, they say they are satisfied with the first results.

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