Ted Tuesday: The 3D Printing Technology That Will Redefine The Concept of the "Multi Function Printer" (MFP)

 

"They're growing things, not printing them"

Good Morning Folks,

Today's Ted (recorded just yesterday) is so HOT off the press, I can't even license a clip to show you just yet.

But I wanted you to be aware of this technology for it's going to change the way we work and how we support our clients. It is precisely because of emerging technologies like this, that our clients really need a strategic partner (not just a vendor) who can help them find, evaluate and deploy the most innovative game-changing solutions.

3D printing has struggled to deliver on its promise to transform manufacturing. Prints take forever, parts are mechanically weak, and material choices are far too limited. That’s because current 3D printing technology is really just 2D printing, over and over again.

CLIP — Continuous Liquid Interface Production — is a breakthrough technology that grows parts instead of printing them layer by layer. CLIP allows businesses to produce commercial quality parts at game-changing speeds, creating a clear path to 3D manufacturing.

Can You Print This?

Remember the scene in "Terminator 2," where T-1000 arises from a shiny puddle in mere seconds? Maybe it's not so far-fetched.

A chemist — and science-fiction buff — unveiled a new kind of 3D printer on stage at the TED conference Monday that uses light and oxygen to build objects out of a pool of liquid. The tool, in the works for more than two years, can create parts 25 to 100 times faster than traditional 3D printers, and could have significant implications for manufacturing and even medicine.

It's the creation of Joseph DeSimone, a chemistry professor at the University of North Carolina, and his team at the startup Carbon3D.

DeSimone demonstrated its potential by promising that, within the 10-minute length of his TED Talk, his 3D printer could construct a hard-to-manufacture object -- a "concentric geodesic structure" -- from what appeared to be a shallow pan of red liquid resin.

TED trained a camera on the printer. A second-by-second clock appeared in the corner of the screen, capturing each moment as it passed. The object steadily began to take shape. "Wish us luck," DeSimone said.

He kept on with his talk, explaining why 3D printing is still largely ineffective today, despite the hype. Most 3D printers are too slow, prone to defects and used only for prototyping an object that then must be manufactured elsewhere.

Traditional 3D printers work by adding layers over and over again to build an object. (Think of inkjet printers for a similar comparison; they keep spreading ink over the same spots until the words become legible.) This new tool, though, uses a process called "continuous liquid interface production,"

UV light triggers photo polymerization and oxygen inhibits it. By carefully balancing the interaction of light and oxygen, CLIP continuously grows objects from a pool of resin.

The result is not only a faster-to-manufacture product, but a physically stronger one.
DeSimone said it's conceivable that, with his tool, a new stent could be created within minutes for a patient needing open-heart surgery. A dentist could build a replacement tooth while the patient is still sitting in the chair.

If it can be sped up even further, it could even be used in manufacturing components of large-scale objects like airplanes.

In an interview with reporters after his talk, DeSimone declined to name a cost or specific release date for the printer, saying it would be out later this year.

As for the TED experiment, the audience erupted into applause when the machine quietly completed its task, creating an object about six and a half minutes after it started — "Terminator" style.

Inventor Joseph M. DeSimone is a prolific serial entrepreneur and eminent scholar. 

DeSimone is the Chancellor's Eminent Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at North Carolina State University and of Chemistry at UNC. DeSimone is also an adjunct member at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Currently DeSimone is on leave from the university and has assumed the CEO role at Carbon3D in Silicon Valley. DeSimone has published over 300 scientific articles and has over 150 issued patents in his name with over 80 patents pending.

DeSimone is one of less than twenty individuals who have been elected to all three branches of the National Academies: Institute of Medicine (2014), National Academy of Sciences (2012) and the National Academy of Engineering (2005). He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2005). DeSimone has received over 50 major awards and recognitions including the 2015 Dickson Prize from Carnegie Mellon University; 2014 Industrial Research Institute Medal; 2014 Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success from the ACS; 2013 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors; 2012 Walston Chubb Award for Innovation by Sigma Xi; the 2010 AAAS Mentor Award in recognition of his efforts to advance diversity in the chemistry PhD workforce; the 2009 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award; the 2009 North Carolina Award; the 2008 $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for Invention and Innovation; the 2007 Collaboration Success Award from the Council for Chemical Research; the 2005 ACS Award for Creative Invention; the 2002 John Scott Award presented by the City Trusts, Philadelphia, given to "the most deserving" men and women whose inventions have contributed in some outstanding way to the "comfort, welfare and happiness" of mankind; the 2002 Engineering Excellence Award by DuPont; and the 2002 Wallace H. Carothers Award from the Delaware Section of the ACS.

DeSimone, an innovative polymer chemist, has made breakthrough contributions in fluoropolymer synthesis, colloid science, nano-biomaterials, green chemistry and most recently 3D printing. DeSimone is the co-founder of several companies including Micell Technologies, Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions, Liquidia Technologies and Carbon3D. DeSimone received his BS in Chemistry in 1986 from Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA and his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1990 from Virginia Tech.

If you want to find common ground for a conversation with DeSimone  talk... Light-based manufacturing; Biodegradable stents; Nanomedicine; Design of vaccines; Interface between academia and entrepreneurship; and of the Role of the National Academies for the public good.

And we were just getting comfortable with the concept of the "muti-fcution printer (MPF)"! I invite you to visit the 3D website where you can explore the invention in action and be the smartest futurist in all of FSO. 

Thanks to the Huffington Post and most of all to you for listening.

Have a GREAT Day,



Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer  

Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TED Tuesdays on MitchWeiner.com highlights some of today's most intriguing ideas. Look for more talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more— HERE.  

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Photo: Dr. SeSimone, TED