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Inspired by the scary killer liquid metal robot in the movie ‘Terminator’, a group of scientists displayed a revolutionary 3D printing technology at the TED conference on Tuesday.
Chemist Joseph DeSimone put on display a 3D printer that allowed creations to rise from molten liquid pools in mostly the similar way as done by the terrifying T-1000 robot from the second ‘Terminator’ flick rose from the silvery puddle.
Presenting the incredible three-dimensional printing device at the conference, DeSimone said, “We were inspired by the ‘Terminator 2’ scene for the T-1000.”
A team of scientists led by DeSimone developed an advanced technology, known as “Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP)”, which they say enables harnessing of the powers of oxygen and light in a printer. This further allows bringing of the designed objects instantly into existence from small elastic material reservoirs having sophisticated properties.
DeSimone explains they have a reservoir that holds the puddle in the similar way as the T-1000.
The team calls the technology a “game changer” as the process of printing finishes parts at speeds that are competitive with current manufacturing processes.
Currently, the 3D printers much depend on spraying the layer upon layer of material, leading to very slow building of objects that even takes hours.
The longer durations taken by such printers intend that it is not feasible to use resins that chemically transform before the final completion of the printing process.
According to the researchers, CLIP is faster as much as 25 to 100 times than the traditional three-dimensional printers. Moreover, CLIP uses synthetic resins with mechanical properties that are strong enough to enable them finished parts.
