3 D Printing & Additive Manufacturing

Articles: Photonics/Optics

Perseverance on Mars: The Journey Begins

Perseverance is the first leg of a round trip to Mars.

Q&A: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Q&A: Printable Flexible Batteries

Professor Shirley Meng explains why there's a demand for stretchable batteries.

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

3D-Printing of Sensors Directly on Expanding Organs

The technique could have applications in diagnosing and monitoring the lungs of patients with COVID-19.

Briefs: Materials

3D Printing with Wood-Based Ink

By emulating the natural cellular architecture of wood, green products such as clothes, packaging, and furniture can be manufactured with unique properties.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Metamaterial Morphs into New Shapes and Takes on New Properties

A newly developed architected metamaterial has the ability to change shape in a tunable fashion.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Printable Chemical Nanosensor

This integrated nanosensor is printed on a daughter board using 3D printing techniques.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Technology Remedies 3D Printing’s “Weak Spot”

The technology welds adjacent 3D-printed layers more effectively, thereby increasing the reliability of the final part.

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

3D-Printed Composites for High-Temperature Uses

The polyimide composites have uses in aerospace, automotive, construction, electronics, mechanical systems, and industrial machinery.

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

4D Printing of Morphing Structures

A new method manufactures complex shapeshifters for soft robots and biomedical implants.

Application Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Innovation on a Larger Scale: Robotic Fiber Placement and 3D Printing

“The disruption promised by Industry 4.0 has already begun,” says Jason Melcher from the aerospace manufacturing company Ingersoll.

Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Electronic Device Manufacturers Shouldn’t Fear Custom Connector Solutions — They Should Embrace Them

As 5G arrives, devices will need to expand I/O counts at the controller, as well as overall networking capabilities.

Application Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Improving Performance of Supercritical CO2 in Next-Generation Energy Applications with 3D Metal Printing

See why Mohawk Innovative Technology, Inc. is excited for the potential of additive manufacturing.

Articles: Photonics/Optics

Products of Tomorrow: February 2021

Next-generation solar panels, 3D-printed composites from NASA, and a new way to sterilize medical devices.

Q&A: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Q&A: 3D-Printed Polymer Lattice Strengthens Concrete

Brian Salazar and his UC Berkeley team have developed a new way to reinforce concrete with a polymer lattice, an advance that could rival other polymer-based enhancements and improve...

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Liquid Sorbent Carbon Dioxide Removal System

Applications include aerospace, automotive, commercial spaceflight, scuba diving equipment, and for first responders.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Mobile Bedside Bioprinter Prints Skin Directly into a Wound

The system is filled with a patient’s skin cells.

INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping

How to Make Tomorrow’s Electronics Using Ink-Jet Printed Graphene

Researchers at the University of Nottingham have cracked the conundrum of how to use inks to 3D-print novel electronic devices with useful properties, such as an...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

3D-Printed Miniature Magnetic Pump

The magnetic, multi-material pump was 3D-printed all in one piece.

Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping

2020 Create the Future Design Contest: Manufacturing/Robotics/Automation Category Winner — RadiBond

RadiBond technology, based on nanometer-thin coatings, provides ultra-strong and ultra-tight bonding between metals and plastics.

Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping

20 Years of Science on the International Space Station

We explore the major scientific breakthroughs achieved during 20 years of human presence on the ISS.

Products: Electronics & Computers

New on the Market: December 2020

Mixed-signal oscilloscopes, 3D printers, DC/DC converters, and more.

Q&A: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Q&A: A New Method for 3D Printing of Tiny Gel Structures

See how Dr. Andrei Kolmakov and his team are using low-energy electron beams to 3D-print tiny gel structures in liquids.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Flexible, Sturdy Robot “Grows” Like a Plant

The robot’s extendable appendage can wind through tight spaces and then lift heavy loads.

Articles: Test & Measurement

Vote for Tech Briefs Product of the Year 2020

These 12 products are the nominees for the 2020 Tech Briefs Readers’ Choice Product of the Year.

Articles: Electronics & Computers

Facility Focus: Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California San Diego

Jacobs' scientists are helping to make contract-tracing apps, emergency-use ventilators, and even squid-bots.

INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Printing Paper Structures for Mechatronics

Natural motion in plants occurs because of cellulose fibers absorbing and releasing water. Scientists developed a simple method to produce self-folding origami structures based on this concept....

Podcasts: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Here's an Idea: A Bug-Inspired Building Material for Mars

We spoke with Javier Gomez Fernandez from the Singapore University of Technology and Design about how Mars explorers – and even those of us on Earth – can make the most out of chitin.