I-Corps: Rapid 3D printing in gel suspension

I-Corps：凝胶悬浮液中的快速 3D 打印

• 批准号: 2029338
• 负责人: Roman Lubynsky
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-08-01 至 2022-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2029338&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Rapid; 3D; printing; gel

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to develop a 3D printer technology capable of printing complex geometries in a suspended environment at high speed. The printing technology directly writes in 3D space using a gel suspension bath. The gel provides a zero-gravity environment, eliminating the need for support material and allows for the printing of highly complex overhanging geometries with high-quality surface finishes. The gel bath is a non-toxic, water-based formulation. Printed objects are simply washed off once printed, requiring no post-processing. The gel can be reused indefinitely. The team believes the automotive, aviation, furniture, children’s product and medical industries could integrate the printing capabilities in their manufacturing process near term. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a technology that enables access to a high-speed 3D printer technology capable of printing fully rigid and flexible industrial grade materials at infinite scale. Currently, 3D printers are limited by poor material quality, small build volume, and slow speed; hence current 3D printers are generally only used as prototyping tools. This project may improve and provide new manufacturing techniques for complex geometries, casting, and molding. This new way of manufacturing may drastically reduce production cost for molded parts, while increasing machine efficiency. The project has the potential to expand the 3D printing market by allowing for mass customization while streamlining traditional manufacturing processes. The team will simultaneously integrate with existing material supply chains and work with companies to locate new products and markets.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种3D打印机技术，该技术能够在高速的悬浮环境中打印复杂的几何形状。印刷技术使用凝胶悬架浴场直接在3D空间中写入。凝胶提供了一个零重力的环境，消除了对支撑材料的需求，并允许打印具有高质量表面饰面的高度复杂的悬垂几何形状。凝胶浴是一种无毒的水基配方。印刷后，印刷物体被洗净，不需要后处理。凝胶可以无限期地重复使用。该小组认为，汽车，航空，家具，儿童产品和医疗行业可以将印刷功能纳入其制造过程中。该I-Corps项目基于一项技术的开发，该技术使能够以无限规模打印完全刚性和灵活的工业级材料来访问高速3D打印机技术。目前，3D打印机受到材料质量差，构建量较小和速度缓慢的限制。因此，当前的3D打印机通常仅用作原型工具。该项目可以改善并为复杂的几何形状，铸造和成型提供新的制造技术。这种新的制造方式可能会大大降低模制零件的生产成本，同时提高机器效率。该项目有可能在简化传统制造过程的同时进行大规模定制，从而扩大3D打印市场。该团队将简单地与现有的材料供应链集成，并与公司合作，以定位新产品和市场。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准来评估，被视为珍贵的支持。