We’ve heard of new materials being developed for 3D printing use in order to enhance the quality of additively manufactured products, but two researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology have been developing a way to use 3D printing technology in order to create wholly new materials.

Dr. Frank Liou and Dr. Jagannanthan Sarangapani, distinguished professors in Product Innovation and Creativity, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, respectively, have been working towards using cyber additive manufacturing technology in order to create new metal materials that possess stronger and lighter properties than existing metal materials. The process of manufacturing these metals involves additive manufacturing process modelling, sensor network, and seamless process integration.

The metal materials Liou and Sarangapani have been developing are Structural amorphous metals (SAMs), and they are made by using a laser to melt blown powder metal, which is then deposited layer by layer to manufacture a 3D printed object. The two researchers have been working on finding the correct cooling rate in order to make the metal materials amorphous, meaning randomly constructed at the cellular level, rather than their usual crystalline formation.Read more

Source: 3ders.org