3D printing in ice for science
Carnegie Mellon researchers have been hard at work finding new technologies for…science or otherwise. What really caught our attention was this little toupee of ice cream.
Okay, to be a bit serious, this is actually very cool. They 3D print these tiny structures using ice, immerse them in resin, then sublimate the ice to create very precise molds for medical use.
If you think about it, it's a lot harder than it looks. Water and ice do not behave as one would always expect. For example, we all know that most things shrink when they cool, but water expands when it freezes. This makes 3D printing a special business.
In the picture above they show more the particularity of 3d printing with water. If you try to build layers vertically without changing anything, they form these inverted cones. To work around this problem, they need to change the rate at which the system deposits new water at the top.
[via additive manufacturing]
Carnegie Mellon researchers have been hard at work finding new technologies for…science or otherwise. What really caught our attention was this little toupee of ice cream.
Okay, to be a bit serious, this is actually very cool. They 3D print these tiny structures using ice, immerse them in resin, then sublimate the ice to create very precise molds for medical use.
If you think about it, it's a lot harder than it looks. Water and ice do not behave as one would always expect. For example, we all know that most things shrink when they cool, but water expands when it freezes. This makes 3D printing a special business.
In the picture above they show more the particularity of 3d printing with water. If you try to build layers vertically without changing anything, they form these inverted cones. To work around this problem, they need to change the rate at which the system deposits new water at the top.
[via additive manufacturing]
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