via QUT
QUT researchers have used intersecting light beams to control chemical reactions in an advanced material, paving the way for future use in 3D printers that print entire layers, instead of single points, at a time.
QUT’s Centre for Materials Science interdisciplinary research team, made up of Dr Sarah Walden, Leona Rodrigues, Dr Jessica Alves, Associate Professor James Blinco, Dr Vinh Truong, and ARC Laureate Fellow Professor Christopher Barner-Kowollik, have published their research in Nature Communications.
Dr Walden said light was a particularly desirable tool for activating chemical processes, because of the precision it offered in starting a reaction.
“Most of the work QUT’s Soft Matter Materials Group researchers have done in the past with light has been to use a laser beam to start and stop a chemical reaction along the entire volume where the light strikes the material,” Dr Walden said.
“In this case, we have two different coloured light beams, and the reaction only occurs where the two beams intersect.
“We use one colour of light to activate one molecule, and the second colour of light to activate another molecule. And where the two light beams meet, the two activated molecules react to form a solid material.
“Normally, in a 3D printer, the inkjet moves around in two dimensions, slowly printing one 2D layer before moving up to print another layer on top.
“But using this technology, you could have a whole two-dimensional sheet activated, and print the entire sheet at once.”
Professor Barner-Kowollik said such two colour activated materials are currently very rare.
“This project is about proving the viability of the ink for future generation of printers,” he said.
Professor Barner-Kowollik, whose career is focused on the power and possibilities of light in materials science, was recently recognised with Australia’s highest prize for chemistry, the 2022 David Craig medal, awarded by the Australian Academy of Science.
Professor Barner-Kowollik said one of the challenges of the project was to find two molecules that could be activated by two different colours of light and then have them react together.
“This is where the innovation comes from,” Professor Barner-Kowollik said.
“You want a molecule to be activated with one colour of light but not the other colour, and vice versa.
“That’s not easy to find, it’s actually quite hard to find.”
Dr Truong, after much work, was able to find two molecules that reacted to the lights in the required manner and combined to form a very solid material.
“In our chemical design, both light activated processes are reversible,” Dr Truong said.
“Hence we can control exactly when and where the solid material may form”.
Original Article: Intersecting light beams key in transformative 3D printer potential
More from: Queensland University of Technology
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
3D printing layers
- Industry’s First Hybrid Micro-precision 3D Printer Series
the microArch D1025 enables more efficiency within the 3D printing process, allowing users across healthcare, electronics, life sciences, and photonics applications to print two resolutions within a ...
- KS3/4 Computing: What can 3D printing be used for?
Professor Danielle George explains how 3D printing works and demonstrates an object being printed in real time.
- Researchers 3D print functional brain tissue with commercial bioprinter and a creative method
Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison developed a 3D-printed brain tissue that can grow and function like typical brain tissue.
- Dundalk gets 3D Construction printed Social Housing Scheme
3DCP is a method of construction that involves using large-scale 3D printers on-site to create three-dimensional structures layer by layer. In this process, layers of Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC) are ...
- Creality Launches the HALOT-MAGE S Resin 3D Printer
In the HALOT-MAGE S, Creality has devised a new system for layer changes that is much faster. They call it “Dynax+”, a new motion system that enables printing of up to 150mm per hour, which is ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
3D printing layers
[google_news title=”” keyword=”3D printing layers” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
3D laser printing
- Glass sensors 1,000x smaller than sand grain, 3D-printed on optical fiber
Marking a significant advancement in communications, Swedish researchers 3D-printed silica glass micro-optics on the ...
- A thousand times smaller than a grain of sand—glass sensors 3D-printed on optical fiber
In a first for communications, researchers in Sweden 3D printed silica glass micro-optics on the tips of optic fibers—surfaces as small as the cross section of a human hair. The advance could enable ...
- Cobra's 3D-printed Limit3d Irons
Cobra has used 3D printing to create pieces of putters for a few years and quietly 3D printing wedges for staff players like Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland. However, the 500 sets of Limit3d irons are ...
- Best Printer for 2024
While his main areas of expertise are maker tools -- 3D printers, vinyl cutters, paper printers, and laser cutters -- he also loves to play board games and tabletop RPGs. Expertise 3D printers ...
- Cobra Releases First Commercially Available 3D Printed Golf Irons
Cobra Golf's new LIMIT3D series is the first 3D printed iron that consumers can get their hands on, with internal lattice geometries impossible without 3D printing.
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
3D laser printing
[google_news title=”” keyword=”3D laser printing” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]