[HN Gopher] New Process Allows 3-D Printing of Microscale Metall... ___________________________________________________________________ New Process Allows 3-D Printing of Microscale Metallic Parts - Www.caltech.edu Author : rbanffy Score : 17 points Date : 2022-12-05 22:16 UTC (44 minutes ago) (HTM) web link (www.caltech.edu) (TXT) w3m dump (www.caltech.edu) | cwkoss wrote: | "Then, in the "reaction" portion of the process, the researchers | burn away the hydrogel portion of the structure in a furnace that | reaches 700 to 1100 degrees Celsius, depending on the material. | Because the melting point of all metals is higher than the | combustion temperature of the hydrogel, the metal remains intact. | | The heat not only removes the hydrogel, it also causes the | overall structure to shrink as the hydrogel burns off, resulting | in an even tinier metal structure. With this process, in addition | to pure metals, the team can 3-D print metal alloys and | multicomponent metallic systems, with feature sizes around 40 | microns, or less than half the width of a human hair." | | --- | | How much does it shrink? Does the shape deform as it shrinks? I | would imagine certain geometries wouldn't work because the | outsides would shrink faster than the inside, which could | break/bend some features. | | Seems like awesome tech, but I suspect there are a number of | limitations to this technique which the article does not discuss. | misthop wrote: | At those temps I believe many metals will also end up being | heat treated. And it sounds like the time will be dependent on | how much hydrogel is present, so there will be at least a lower | bound on what heat treatment you need apply. I wonder how that | works with the shrinking, along with lots of other properties | you may want of the end product | qwezxcrty wrote: | There is a older (commercialized [1]) process called two-photon | photo-polymerization, which can also create mind blowing | nanoscale 3D parts [2]. Although limited in choose of materials | it can print, still pretty cool and sometimes can find | applications in photonics. | | [1] https://www.nanoscribe.com/en/ [2] | https://www.epfl.ch/research/facilities/cmi/wp-content/uploa... | hyferg wrote: | They seem to achieve the 'multimaterial' label by soaking | different parts of the polymer in exclusive precursors. If you | want to create advanced microelectronics using this method, you | would probably want to be able to control gel-differentiation | process as part of polymerization. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-12-05 23:00 UTC)