Posted on 12/31/2014 1:55:15 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
After more than two years and an estimated $20,000, a research group in the mechanical engineering department has created the first 3D printer capable of printing LED lights. The venture was led by researcher Yong Lin Kong and Ian Tamargo '14, and was sponsored by the Air Force of Scientific Research and the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency.
The research group McAlpine, led by mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Michael McAlpine, made a breakthrough more than a year ago after it successfully printed 3D bionic ears, devices that can hear sound frequencies beyond the capacity of a human ear, out of bovine cells.
According to the team's website, the 10-person group explores "interweaving biology and nanomaterials" that "could enable the creation of bionic devices, possessing unique geometric, properties and functionalities for a variety of fundamental and applied research directions".
With this new 3D printing technology, the lab has shown the capability of printing "emissive semi-conducting inorganic nanoparticles, elastomeric matrix, organic polymers as charge transport laters, solid and liquid metal leads and a UV-adhesive transparent substrate layer cube of encapsulated LEDs," according to their report.
"What we have presented here is an additional method to integrate electronics that can take into consideration the three-dimensional geometry of an object," Kong explained.He added that previously only simple mechanical structures were able to be printed using 3D technology and that McAlpine has presented the first example of the printing of a fully functional electronic device. Prior to McAlpine's innovative customization, 3D printing had been limited to use of specific plastics and few biological materials.
Tamargo explained that a 3D printer functions like a topographical map in which individual layers, like those denoting hills and mountains on a map and that are decreasing in size, are combined to print to the total object. Tamargo joined the project as an undergraduate in the chemistry department and included his findings in the lab to write his junior papers and his thesis entitled "Fabrication and Characterization of Three-Dimensionally-Printed Light-Emitting Diodes."
He said that the scientific implications of this novel printing technology could include devices such as a printed contact lens with visual displays in it. "But," Tamargo added, "these devices are way in the future."
This is exciting news
societal upheavals continue...
This is exciting news
++++
Hard to disagree with that.
One naturally wonders if 3D printing technology will progress to a level where complex semiconductor circuitry can be created.
Getting to the fractional micron dimensions of current microelectronics would seem to be problematic . But maybe not. And perhaps less fine geometries will become practical. Custom microcircuits Built in your own bedroom - what a concept.
I would think economy of scale when you start producing these would get you down under 3 grand fairly quick.
Second, you can make one of the more efficient light sources we now have in your own home.
Tell me that won't shake the light bulb market to it's core.
3D printing is going to eventually (and by that I mean in the next 10 years) shake almost every industry to it’s core. It will decimate China, as well.
The End of Chinese Manufacturing and Rebirth of U.S. Industry
http://www.forbes.com/sites/singularity/2012/07/23/the-end-of-chinese-manufacturing-and-rebirth-of-u-s-industry/
Even if the Chinese automate their factories with AI-powered robots and manufacture 3D printers, it will no longer make sense to ship raw materials all the way to China to have them assembled into finished products and shipped back to the U.S. Manufacturing will once again become a local industry with products being manufactured near raw materials or markets.
So China has many reasons to worry, and manufacturing will undoubtedly return to the U.S.—if not in this decade then early in the next. But the same jobs that left the U.S. won’t come back: they won’t exist. What will the new jobs be? We can only guess. Autodesk CEO Carl Bass says that just as we have created new, higher-paying jobs in every other industrial transition, we will create a new set of industries and professions in this one. Look at the new types of jobs and multi-billion dollar businesses that the Internet and mobile industries created—these came out of nowhere and changed our lives, Bass says.
Can 3D printers print out drugs?
Thanks once again 2ndDivisionVet for keeping us informed about 3D printing tech :-)
Yes, of course. Food, houses, metal & plastic firearms, automobiles, etc.
So right 2ndDivisionVet.
And we have plenty of the main 3D printing materials of the future...silicon and petrochemicals.
15 years to the printing of a heart...30 years to print a new eye. Drug printing in 10-20 (depending on the drug). Routine printing of houses in 5 years.
The future of really, really inexpensive stuff is almost upon us.
It will actually be like money growing on trees...seriously.
Interesting, that is an aspect that I have not seen discussed, in fact this is the first mention of it, that I have seen.
I think you’re being pessimistic. We’ve already printed functioning livers and kidneys and drugs are already here, too. China and the Netherlands, among others, are already doing houses. When graphene is commonplace....
I am being cautious...lest people accuse me of being a wild-eyed dreamer :-)
If I stated what I really think the technology will lead to in 30 years many here would think I was crazy..or at least related to Ray Kurzweil ...lol
I’d have to agree it’s going to be a paradigm shift. Lots of businesses/industries will likely go under or morph into something very different.
Kinda hard to predict how things will change, but it’s going to be fun seeing it unfold.
As a car nut, I’m hoping it adds a new dimension to automobiles. There’s a fledgling open source car movement, and kit cars have been around for years, along with quite a few small companies building unique, small-run vehicles. So there’s at least some market for vehicles that deviate from the mass-produced common offerings. Maybe you won’t be able to 3d print an engine block in the short term, but I’d bet there are a lot of replacement parts that will be available soon (also a boon for the vintage industry). Maybe we’ll collectively start building cars for longevity rather than disposability. It would be great to mass produce some of the large components to get the price down, and then 3d print the rest to the customer’s specifications. Being able to add technology rather than having to trade in, for example. Knowing parts will always be available even if the manufacturer goes under. Potentially exciting times ahead.
There are a lot of car hobbyists out there doing some incredible things modifying/improving/changing parts. That’s just going to explode as 3d printing becomes more widely available and accessible.
I think we’re going to see an explosion in creativity that rivals the Renaissance, assuming government doesn’t royally screw it up.
The very small structures that are currently obtained using extreme UV are reaching the limit of what physics will allow the circuits to do reliably and consistently. But I can see where a VLSI type application could be tested if the proper materials can be made available in a manner consistent with 3D printing. It is doable but may be a year or so away ) assuming anyone is working on it——and it wouldn’t surprise me to hear that some university or R&D group are doing just that). Field Programmable arrays and chips may be some of the first devices done in such a manner.
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