Researchers at MIT and Delft College of Expertise have developed a technique of 3D printing that makes use of heat-responsive supplies to print multi-colour and multi-textured objects in a single step.
The methodology, which got here out of a undertaking exploring the potential for multi-property single materials printing, known as speed-modulated ironing. It makes use of two print nozzles, whereby a heat-responsive filament is printed utilizing one nozzle, adopted by a second empty nozzle, which passes over the fabric to activate color, shade or roughness adjustments, utilizing warmth.
“At this time, we’ve got desktop printers that use a sensible mixture of some inks to generate a spread of shades and textures. We wish to have the ability to do the identical factor with a 3D printer — use a restricted set of supplies to create a way more numerous set of traits for 3D-printed objects,” says Mustafa Doğa Doğan PhD ’24, co-author of a paper on speed-modulated ironing.
The researchers are capable of management the velocity of the second nozzle to warmth the filament to particular temperatures, and have developed a mannequin that predicts the quantity of warmth the second nozzle will switch primarily based on its velocity – the temperature of the second nozzle itself stays fixed. The strategy is claimed to not require any {hardware} modifications.
“As we modulate the velocity, that permits the printed layer we’re ironing to achieve totally different temperatures. It’s just like what occurs in case you transfer your finger over a flame. If you happen to transfer it shortly, you won’t be burned, however in case you drag it throughout the flame slowly, your finger will attain a better temperature,” AlAlawi says.
The MIT workforce collaborated with TU Delft researchers to develop the theoretical mannequin that predicts how briskly the second nozzle should transfer to warmth the fabric to a selected temperature. The mannequin has additionally been used to create a consumer interface that routinely generates printing directions for color, shade, and texture specs.
The strategy has to this point been examined utilizing three heat-responsive filaments together with a foaming polymer with particles that broaden as they’re heated, and wooden and cork fibre-filled filaments. The workforce examined the foaming polymer by printing partially translucent water bottles, ironing at low speeds to create opaque areas and better speeds to create translucent ones. The plan is to proceed testing with different thermally responsive supplies, akin to plastics.
The undertaking is a collaboration between the analysis teams of Zjenja Doubrovski, assistant professor at TU Delft, and Stefanie Mueller, the TIBCO Profession Improvement Professor within the Division of Electrical Engineering and Pc Science (EECS) at MIT and a member of the MIT Pc Science and Synthetic Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Doğan labored carefully with lead writer Mehmet Ozdemir of TU Delft; Marwa AlAlawi, a mechanical engineering graduate pupil at MIT; and Jose Martinez Castro of TU Delft.