A new innovation should allow much faster 3D printing with multiple materials.
As you may already know, 3D printers that can handle multiple materials already exist in different forms (including dual extrusion models), but the problem is that the method used to move from one material to another is the same. another is currently slower than ideal. .
This is where the new multi-material multi-nozzle (MM3D) 3D print head comes in, according to Nature.com. It is capable of printing up to eight different materials from a single nozzle, and there can be multiple nozzles, and you can switch between these materials very quickly.
All this makes the multimaterial 3D printing method much more transparent and faster, while maintaining a sufficiently fine level of detail.
Lightning fast switching
Or, as the inventors put it: "Our MM3D print heads exploit diode-like behavior when multiple viscoelastic materials converge at a junction to allow a transparent high-frequency change between up to eight different materials to create voxels with a volume. approaching the diameter of the cubed nozzle. "
As you can see in the video above, the people behind the print head have already used it to create a flexible origami sheet and a "soft centipede-like tracer" capable of moving, the latter being printed with multiple epoxies and elastomers of silicone. inks of different stiffness levels.
The best hope is that this printhead technology can quickly create flexible electronic components or rechargeable batteries.