3D Printing Digital Materials

ComputationalComputationalSynthesis LabSynthesis Lab

Jonathan Hiller, Hod LipsonMechanical & Aerospace EngineeringComputing & Information ScienceCornell University

Conclusions

• Digital Materials– Comprise lattice of physical voxels– High precision, work with incompatible materials, – Tunable properties

• Implementation– Parallel (laser printer)– Serial (inkjet printer)

• From Analog to Digital– Smart voxels

Digital Materials

Gershenfeld (2005)

70010,00025,00080,000187,000363,0001,000,0004,500,000

• Geometry is “pixelized”• Massively parallel pick-and-place prints layer by layer• Multiple materials: Some sacrificial, some functional• Above: Two materials, spherical voxels

Printing Digital Materials

Parallel Assembly

Material Feeder

Build Chamber

Fabricator

With Jonathan Hiller

Spheres

3D Circuits

3D Circuits

Printing Digital Materials

Rapid Serial Assembly

VoxJet

Accelerated x4

Voxels

Tunable Material Properties

Tiles

Modeling - COMSOL

Simulating: Relaxation

Tile Precision

Dithering Materials

Tuning Elastic modulus

Acrylic / Aluminum Dithering

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

% Aluminum

Ela

stic

mo

du

lus

(MP

a)

Tuning CTE

CTE, Aluminum/Zirconium Tungstate

-1.00E-02

-5.00E-03

0.00E+00

5.00E-03

1.00E-02

1.50E-02

2.00E-02

25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95

Temperater (C)

Elo

ng

atio

n (

mm

)

100% Al

0% Al

15% Al

43%Al

Auxetic Materials

Spheres

Precision

x 0.5 x 0.1

Smart Voxels

Future Directions

500 µm

3D Micro-fluidics

Heterogeneous Tissue Engineering

From Analog to Digital

Conclusions

• Digital Materials– Comprise lattice of physical voxels– High precision, work with incompatible materials, – Tunable properties

• Implementation– Parallel (laser printer)– Serial (inkjet printer)

• Challenges– Interfaces and interlocking between voxels

• From Analog to Digital– Smart voxels