Scientists Сome Up With A Method Of Instant 3D Printing Using Ultrasonic Holography

A new study published this month in the journal Science Advances of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research and the University of Heidelberg explores the concept of “non-contact 3D printing” and how it can be used to print living tissue in particular.

A new form of 3D printing uses sound waves that can push matter without physically touching it. The achievement here is that these scientists have found a way to build any 3D shape they want using these waves.

The most difficult thing in the process of creating acoustic holograms is the calculation of the work of spatial emitters. According to scientists, the creation of each model takes a lot of computing resources. Fortunately, for subsequent model assemblies (3D printing), calculations are no longer needed. They are only produced once if nothing else needs to be changed in the model.

The printing process looks like an assembly of particles of matter suspended in a liquid – the model appears in the volume of a cloudy liquid as if by magic. Such printing is useful for rapid prototyping in production or in medicine, where printing by the usual method of layer-by-layer application of the working substance will be accompanied by damage to biological tissues.

The maximum size of these experiments, according to Melde, “was a two-turn helix about 20 mm long and 10 mm in diameter.”