Parts 3D printed at speed with submicrometer details

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Researchers in Germany have developed a system to 3D-print highly precise, centimetre-sized objects with submicrometer details at a speed that is yet to be matched.

The research matches the requirement from industry for 3D printers to work at the micrometre scale at far higher speeds. This system is presented in Advanced Functional Materials. 

In the frame: the 3D printed bike

Blood vessels embedded into 3D printed skin

To demonstrate the speed and reliability of their setup, the researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) printed a lattice structure of 60mm3 in size with details down to the micrometre scale and containing over 300 billion voxels, the 3D equivalent of pixels.

"We have by far outperformed the record reached by 3D-printed aircraft wings. This is a new world record," said Prof Martin Wegener, spokesperson for 3D Matter Made to Order (3DMM2O), a collaboration between KIT and Heidelberg University.

For this type of 3D printing, the beam of a laser passes a liquid photoresist in a computer-controlled manner. The material located in the focus of the laser is exposed and hardened.

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