Amazingly Detailed Images Using World's Fastest 3D Printer
Researchers from the Vienna University of Technology have set a new world record in developing a new 3D printing technology that is capable of creating objects with incredibly fine details at record speed.
Researchers Jan Torgersen and Peter Gruber, led by materials science and technology professor Jürgen Stampfl used two-photon lithography thorough which tiny structures on a nanometer scale can also be fabricated.
They created a world record by taking the printing process from millimetres per second to five metres per second, reported Discovery News.
The 3D printer uses a liquid resin that contains molecules. They are activated using a laser beam, which in turn induces a chain reaction in other components of the resin, so-called monomers, and turn them into a solid, said Jan Torgersen from the Vienna University of Technology.
The focal point of the laser beam is guided by mirrors to solidify the lines of resin into a solid polymer, just a few hundred nanometres wide. This helps create fine structures as tiny as a grain of sand. The scientists said that in other 3D-printing techniques the product is built on top of the previously created layer. In the newly developed technique, the product can be created anywhere within the liquid resin. For this, the scientists used a new resin developed by professor Robert Liska, that could be solidified anywhere, not just on top of the previous layer.
Check out the video that shows the 3-D prinitng process producing 100 layers in four minutes. Also check out images created using high resolution 3-D printers. Click on start to look at the images.
Photo:TU Vienna
3D Printer With Nano-Precision
A racing car with about 285 micrometers long - printed at the Vienna University of Technology
Photo:TU Vienna
3D Printer With Nano-Precision
Race car Detail
Photo:Klaus Cicha/Vienna University of Technology
St. Stephen's Cathedral
A replica of Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral - geometrically somewhat simplified, but incredibly small - Only about 50 microns measures the model.
Photo: Klaus Cicha/ Vienna University of Technology
St. Stephen's Cathedral
The St. Stephen's Cathedral in a slightly larger size (approximately 350 microns long
Photo:Klaus Cicha/ Vienna University of Technology
London Tower Bridge
The London Tower Bridge - with about 90 micron spacing between the towers
