Research & Education
Additive manufacturing is transforming how products are designed, produced, and serviced. AM lets us produce on-demand, without dedicated equipment or tooling. This unparalleled flexibility enables new digital design and production tools that can create components and products with breakthrough performance: in order to truly unlock the potential of AM, research & education is of fundamental importance.
Knowledge of the fundamentals of AM, its design principles, applications, and implications is one of the greatest barriers to its wider adoption. In recent years the key importance of integrating additive manufacturing in educational curricula has begun to be considered worldwide.
Additive manufacturing centered research & education initiatives by both governments and corporations – as well as individuals – have begun to focus on raising the next generation of additive manufacturing designers and engineers.
The main areas of exploration for educational activities are in software and hardware. While AM hardware learning is currently mostly limited to exploring the current additive production process and its applications, the software offers some of the most significant opportunities in terms of learning to fully exploit the AM process in the future.
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A team from the University of Lincoln in the UK are developing the first toddler-sized myoelectric prosthetic. The medical device, called SIMPA (Soft-Grasp Infant Myoelectric Prosthetic Arm), is made using 3D printing, which allows for dramatic cost reductions. Myoelectric prostheses, which use sensors and muscle-stimulation to perform various hand functions,…
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GoPrint3D, a UK-based supplier of 3D printing technologies, is launching a new additive manufacturing conference, Additive Live. The first edition of the event, which is supported by HP, will be held at the end of this month at PrintCity in Manchester Metropolitan University’s Additive Manufacturing lab. Today, a number of…
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In recent years, 3D scanning and printing have taken on increasingly important roles in the museal content, used by conservationists and archaeologists to digitally archive fragile or decaying artefacts. At Oxford University, for instance, historical instruments are being replicated using 3D printing, which allows them to be handled and even…
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Fossils of some of the planet’s oldest known dinosaurs are found in Africa, and now, thanks to the work of dedicated excavators and state-of-the-art technologies like 3D scanning and 3D printing, they are being shared across the globe to advance paleontology research. Sterling Nesbitt and Christopher Griffin, two paleotologists from…
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Research teams and companies around the globe are investigating ways to improve additive manufacturing at all points in the process chain—from materials and process parameters, to the printing hardware and beyond. A recent development out of the RMIT University’s School of Engineering could lead to improvements in powder-based metal 3D…
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The University of Exeter has announced the acquisition of a new EOS P 810 laser sintering system for high temperature polymers. Working in collaboration with high performance materials specialist Victrex, the English university will seek to optimize VICTREX PAEK polymers and composite materials for EOS’ additive manufacturing platform to unlock…
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A group of scientists has achieved a significant milestone in the development of a 3D printed and implantable artificial ovary, which could enable infertile women to become pregnant. For the first time ever, the team has identified and mapped structural proteins within a pig ovary, which will facilitate the development…
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An international collaboration between France-based metal AM company AddUp Group and the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) seeks to further advance powder bed fusion 3D printing for the production of metal molds and tooling. The partners have signed a $2.7 million cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA). In the…
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Canadian footwear company Native Shoes is working with MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab and a team from the Emily Carr University of Art and Design to develop a new type of 3D printed shoe. The collaborative project, called Liquid Printed Natives, involves a novel liquid rubber 3D printing technique. Since 2009, Native…
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In October 2019, GE Additive and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) signed a five-year R&D agreement to jointly accelerate the industrialization of additive manufacturing. The partnership, which builds upon ORNL’s preceding work with Arcam (acquired by GE in 2016), seeks to establish reliability and consistency in the metal AM…
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