ANN ARBOR, MI—Engineers at the University of Michigan have developed a new light-based additive manufacturing process that is up to 100 times faster than conventional 3D printing techniques. Rather than building up plastic filaments layer by layer, the new technique lifts complex shapes from a vat of liquid.
Their process solidifies liquid resin using two lights to control where the resin hardens and where it stays fluid. This enables the engineers to solidify the resin in more sophisticated patterns. For instance, they can make a 3D bas-relief in a single shot rather than in a series of 1D lines or 2D cross sections.