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A team led by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory identified and successfully demonstrated a new method to process a plant-based material called nanocellulose that reduced energy needs by a whopping 21%. The approach was discovered using molecular simulations run on the lab’s supercomputers, followed by pilot testing and analysis.

The method, leveraging a solvent of sodium hydroxide and urea in water, can significantly lower the production cost of nanocellulosic fiber — a strong, lightweight biomaterial ideal as a composite for 3D-printing structures such as sustainable housing and vehicle assemblies. The findings support the development of a circular bioeconomy in which renewable, biodegradable materials replace petroleum-based resources, decarbonizing the economy and reducing waste.

Colleagues at ORNL, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the University of Maine’s Process Development Center collaborated on the project that targets a more efficient method of producing a highly desirable material. Nanocellulose is a form of the natural polymer cellulose found in plant cell walls that is up to eight times stronger than steel.

One contract focuses on Canopy’s transpiration-cooled TBS. Under a second contract, Canopy will embed high-temperature sensors in the TPS material.

Denver-based Canopy was founded in 2021 to develop manufacturing processes that rely on software, automation and 3D-printing to supply heat shields for spacecraft and hypersonic vehicles.

In the rapidly evolving world of 3D printing, the pursuit of faster, more efficient and versatile production methods is never-ending. Traditional 3D printing techniques, while groundbreaking, are often time-consuming and limited in the kinds of materials they can use as feedstock.

But, through a new process a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) team is calling Microwave Volumetric Additive Manufacturing (MVAM), researchers have introduced an innovative new approach to 3D printing using microwave energy to cure materials, opening the door to a broader range of materials than ever before.

In a recent paper published in Additive Manufacturing Letters, LLNL researchers describe the potential of microwave energy to penetrate a wider range of materials compared to light-based volumetric additive manufacturing (VAM).

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Learning from my first design, I created an improved marine thruster that uses magnetohydrodynamic thrust. It took the better part of a month, and plenty of tests. This really pushed my 3D printing skills to the limit, but it also lead to fully functional thruster that outperformed my expectations. Thanks to Onshape for their awesome modeling program. Create a free Onshape account here: https://Onshape.pro/PlasmaChannel.
First MHD thruster video here: • Using Stealth Propulsion for Ocean Tr…

Continue reading “Designing a Futuristic Magnetic Turbine (MHD drive)” »

Precisely shaped glass is a tricky substance for additive manufacturing.

In the quest to develop life-like materials to replace and repair human body parts, scientists face a formidable challenge: Real tissues are often both strong and stretchable and vary in shape and size.

A CU Boulder-led team, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, has taken a critical step toward cracking that code. They’ve developed a new way to 3D print material that is at once elastic enough to withstand a heart’s persistent beating, tough enough to endure the crushing load placed on joints, and easily shapable to fit a patient’s unique defects.

Better yet, it sticks easily to wet tissue.

#bioink could be used to #Print and #Grow #Lung #Tissue.

Researchers describe their success in creating a mucus-based bioink for 3D printing lung tissue. This advancement could one day help study and treat chronic lung conditions. scitechupdates.com/mucus-based-bi…

Lung diseases kill millions of people around the world each year. Treatment options are limited, and animal models for studying these illnesses and experimental medications are inadequate. Now, writing in ACS Applied Bio Materials, researchers describe their success in creating a mucus-based bioink for 3D printing lung tissue. This advancement could one day help study and treat chronic lung conditions.

Continue reading “Mucus-based bioink could be used to Print and Grow Lung Tissue” »

The widespread adoption of electric vehicles greatly relies on the development of robust and fast-charging battery technologies that can support their continuous operation for long periods of time. One proposed energy storage solution to improve the endurance of electric vehicles entails the use of so-called structural batteries.

Structural batteries are batteries that can serve two purposes, acting both as structural components of vehicles and energy storage solutions. Instead of being external components that are added to an electronic or electric device, these batteries are thus directly embedded into the structure.

Researchers at Shanghai University and their collaborators recently devised a promising strategy to fabricate highly performing structural batteries with customizable geometric configurations. Their strategy, outlined in a paper published in Composites Science and Technology, enables the 3D-printing of structural lithium-ion batteries for different geometrical configurations.

Researchers from North Carolina State University have demonstrated miniature soft hydraulic actuators that can be used to control the deformation and motion of soft robots that are less than a millimeter thick. The researchers have also demonstrated that this technique works with shape memory materials, allowing users to repeatedly lock the soft robots into a desired shape and return to the original shape as needed.

“Soft robotics holds promise for many applications, but it is challenging to design the actuators that drive the motion of soft robots on a small scale,” says Jie Yin, corresponding author of a paper on the work (Advanced Materials, “Fully 3D-Printed Miniature Soft Hydraulic Actuators with Shape Memory Effect for Morphing and Manipulation”) and an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NC State. “Our approach makes use of commercially available multi-material 3D printing technologies and shape memory polymers to create soft actuators on a microscale that allow us to control very small soft robots, which allows for exceptional control and delicacy.”

The new technique relies on creating soft robots that consist of two layers. The first layer is a flexible polymer that is created using 3D printing technologies and incorporates a pattern of microfluidic channels – essentially very small tubes running through the material. The second layer is a flexible shape memory polymer. Altogether, the soft robot is only 0.8 millimeters thick.