Daniel Rau, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering on the College of Wyoming, has acquired a $198,932 grant from the Nationwide Science Basis to analysis 3D printing of sentimental supplies. The grant, awarded by way of NSF’s engineering analysis initiation program, will fund Rau’s research of why present 3D printing processes produce unstable outcomes when trying to print elastomers and different versatile supplies.
Present 3D printing applied sciences primarily produce arduous, brittle plastic objects, leaving delicate materials functions largely unexplored. Rau’s analysis venture, titled “Bettering the Vat Photopolymerization 3D-Printing of Comfortable Elastomers By a Deeper Understanding of Course of Dynamics,” focuses on understanding why additive manufacturing processes create warped blobs slightly than useful merchandise when printing rubber-like supplies.
The analysis will make use of two specialised methods: photorheology and X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS). Rau is collaborating with researchers at Brookhaven Nationwide Laboratory in New York, the place he’ll use a 2.5-kilometer synchrotron to review the curing strategy of photopolymers at a microscopic degree. “This explicit additive manufacturing course of offers with a very distinctive class of supplies referred to as photopolymers. They’re liquid; you hit them with UV mild — consider actually sturdy daylight — they usually solidify,” Rau says.
The analysis goals to create tips for manufacturing processes tailor-made to delicate supplies, with potential functions in biomedical units, wearable expertise, and protecting tools. Rau, who joined UW’s Division of Mechanical Engineering in fall 2024, notes the potential for medical functions: “There’s lots of potential. You realize, the human physique may be very delicate. So, there are lots of issues the human physique likes delicate, whether or not it’s implants or wearable units.”
Supply: uwyo.edu