Microscopic 3D printing at 5 meters per second

Researchers from the Vienna University of Technology, Prof. Jürgen Stumpfl and Jan Torgersen, created a 3d printer that prints microscopic objects several orders of magnitude faster than before. For printing using the method of two-photon lithography. With the help of a system of mirrors, the focus point of the laser beam moves inside the tank with liquid resin, leaving behind it a path of hardened polymer just a few hundred nanometers wide. Previously, the speed of this process was measured in millimeters per second. The installation of Stampfla and Torgerssen prints at a speed of 5 meters per second. This printing speed was achieved thanks to the improvement of the system of mirrors and the chemical composition of the resin. Unlike traditional methods, when printing is done strictly layer by layer, the new method allows you to focus the laser beam at an arbitrary point and dispense with auxiliary supporting elements. The video shows the process of printing a 285 micrometer race car model. It consists of one hundred layers and is printed in four minutes.



Now researchers of the Vienna Technological are working on the creation of biocompatible resins, products from which can be used in medicine as a "framework" for the cultivation of living tissue.