Combining 3D printing with CT scanning enables fast, realistic 3D printed objects

a new3D printingThe machine combines the principles of CT scanners with lighting modeling of materials to produce objects with unique combinations of properties in record time.
Imagine simply pressing the “print” button to produce a replica of a bust of Albert Einstein, complete with soft cheeks, a firm forehead, and containing a physical replica of the brain’s wonder. Or, more impressively, an artificial heart with the same stiffness as a real heart.That’s just what researchers at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) are working on with a new light-based3D printingA few examples of technology making 3D printed objects a reality.

According to the leader of the multi-departmental team, the printer exploits the principle of inverting CT scans. “Our printer will build a solid object at the intersection of computed tomography images. This technique allows us to build three-dimensional objects embedded with transitions of different properties and materials,” said the researchers.
CT scans provide a three-dimensional image of, for example, the brain, by recombining information from a multitude of two-dimensional images obtained from X-ray projections, which rotate around the patient and show different tissue types.On the other hand, the new3D printerObjects will be shaped according to a 3D image made up of 2D images by letting light hit the rotating object.

print on three planes

Although the current3D printerObjects are produced in three dimensions, but the actual printing is done in lower dimensions. Materials, such as plastic resins, are cured layer by layer, or point by point, and the object is printed bottom-up on the printing plate. However, the new 3D printer will actually print in three dimensions, the researchers explained: “We use a method called tomo-trough photopolymerization (TVP), which allows us to print all the points of a three-dimensional object at the same time. People One has to imagine a box containing a liquid polymer – a polymer printer ink. By exposing the ink to specific wavelengths of light, determined by a 3D image and built up in a CT scan, the ink becomes whatever Solids that require shape.”

Elasticity can be adjusted

Researchers are developing suitable instrument types for new formulations of photopolymer resins, which are important for harnessing light-dependent3D printing technologyOne of the great advantages of . “We can change the softness of our 3D objects by controlling different wavelengths from the light source according to our computer model,” the researchers said.

So far, the printer has successfully printed a variety of complex geometries with functionally graded materials. The researcher explained that the potential of the printer extends well into the commercial production of a variety of items.But the unique possibility to quickly adjust the softness and shape of prints also means he sees an opportunity in artificial replacements for patients who need new, functional tissues and organs.
Blood vessel
potential for chemistry.

“The level of detail and flexibility of our 3D printing will hopefully be so extensive that the technology can be used in production,” said the researchers.
biology
The polymer acts as an ‘ink’ for a fully vascularized construct. The technology may be able to replicate the softness and unique packing of blood vessels, capillaries and muscles. There’s still a long way to go, but hopefully the printer will bring us closer to that goal. “

unprecedented speed

While some of the potential benefits of this printer are still in the next few years, it already has features that could revolutionize 3D printing. Typically, the speed of 3D printing depends on the complexity of the object and the number of voxels. Voxels are three-dimensional pixels, which can be described as all the small points that make up an image, or in the case of voxels, points in a three-dimensional figure.

However, because the new 3D printer uses an inverted CT image as a template and simply alters the polymeric material with light, rather than printing it point by point, objects can be produced almost instantly. In principle, the technology allows people to send a CT scan of an object and press ‘print’. The moment after that, there is a replica of the soft object in real life.

(responsible editor: admin)