In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, we’re kicking things off with business, as former Waymo legal executive David Tressler joins 6K as its Chief Legal Officer. Moving on, MakerVerse received an important ISO certification, and Mechnano’s PK ESD has been approved for use on Farsoon’s printers. Clemson University has developed 3D printed ceramic protonic fuel cells. Researchers from National University of Singapore have been 3D printing mock-squids with microalgae. Finally, you’ll just have to see these shoes 3D printed on socks to believe them.
Former Waymo Executive appointed as 6K Chief Legal Officer
David Tressler has a wealth of experience as a seasoned leader in the legal field. He is an expert at enabling complex new technology to be commercialized and he has a proven track record for maturing legal and regulatory functions.
Massachusetts-headquartered 6K Inc., a leader in sustainable production of critical materials for lithium-ion batteries and additive manufacturing, has appointed David Tressler as its Chief Legal Officer. Tressler’s addition to the team is a great way for the company to accelerate its global expansion as it enters a phase of strategic commercial growth. He has extensive experience in legal leadership, enabling new technology commercialization and maturing compliance and legal functions for scaling businesses. A Harvard Law School graduate and long-serving officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, Tressler was Deputy General Counsel of autonomous driving technology company Waymo, LLC for over six years, and a partner at global law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Chicago, practicing there for more than ten years. In his new role, reporting to 6K’s CEO Dr. Aaron Bent, Tressler will help support the company’s commercial growth, fundraising, M&A strategy, investments, and construction of new production facilities, including its recently announced PlusCAM, a sustainable multi-chemistry cathode manufacturing plant in Tennessee.
“6K is executing rapidly on its growth strategy to deploy investments for long-term impact. I’m thrilled to join 6K’s leadership team as the company prepares to scale its transformative, clean technology and look forward to supporting 6K’s commercial expansion,” Tressler said.
MakerVerse has received ISO 27001 certification in Information Security
Berlin-based startup MakerVerse was founded in 2022 to provide an on-demand platform for manufacturing industrial parts. It has now achieved the internationally recognized ISO 27001 certification for information security. The startup, also ISO 9001 certified for its quality management system, offers over 12 different manufacturing technologies, including CNC machining and 3D printing, as well as a suite of production services to help customers in making their manufacturing and quality plans. This new certification is a globally accepted standard based on requirements for establishing, implementing, and improving an information security management system (ISMS), and the criteria for achieving it is focused on data protection, information security controls, and continuous enhancement of a company’s overall ISMS. To examine the startup’s security controls, TÜV SÜD examined MakerVerse’s ISMS in an in-depth audit, including policies, procedures, and processes to safeguard services and customer information. The evaluation was successful.
“This award is a testament to our commitment to maintain the highest standards of data security and privacy. It further emphasizes our commitment to offering unparalleled services to our customers while ensuring robust security measures are in place,” said Tim Schark, MakerVerse CFO.
Farsoon Approves Mechnano’s PK ESD Material for Printers
Global polymer and metal laser sintering systems manufacturer and supplier Farsoon, the leading supplier of industrial AM technology in China, has approved Mechnano’s PK ESD material for use with its 252P Series and Flight 403P Series machines. This laser sintering powder pairs Jabil’s PK 5000 with a coating formulation using Mechnano’s proprietary D’Func (Discrete, Dispersed, and Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes) technology. PK ESD has PK 5000’s advantages, including chemical and abrasion resistance, high impact strength, and improved elongation over general-purpose nylons, which makes it good for functional testing and production uses. Plus, the D’Func-based coating adds nano-uniform electrostatic dissipative properties to parts printed with SLS technology, giving the parts Nano-Uniform ESD at 107 Surface resistivity ohms, independent of powder refresh rates and build orientation. Printing PK ESD on Farsoon’s systems results in accurate, high-performance parts for end-use applications like durable ESD tooling and drones.
“PK ESD’s nano uniformity is the answer to alternative ESD powder and filament solutions with unpredictable ESD performance. With Farsoon, we’re enabling the AM market by eliminating expensive and time-consuming requirements to test and validate static-dissipative performance for each part. And the fact we are doing this with a high-performance and eco-friendly material makes it even more compelling,” said Bryce Keeler, Mechnano President.
3D-Printed Protonic Ceramic fuel cells
The research team included (from left): Jiawei Zhang, Jianhua “Joshua” Tong, Bridget Sheridan, Kyle S. Brinkman, Minda Zou, Fei Peng and Jacob Conrad.
Researchers at Clemson have developed a new way to 3D print protonic ceramic fuel cell (PCFC) which has the potential of generating electricity more sustainably than fossil fuels. That’s because they run on renewable fuels like ammonia, alcohols, hydrocarbons, and hydrogen, instead of petroleum or coal. But, because they’re so difficult to manufacture on a large scale, it’s been hard moving them from a laboratory setting to real-world applications. The team from Clemson’s Advanced Materials Research Laboratory (AMRL) solved this problem by 3D printing PCFCs in a tubular shape, which makes them more durable, and easier to seal, than planar designs. They published their results in ACS Energy Letters.
The researchers also 3D printed all three layers that a fuel cell requires: the anode, cathode, and electrolyte, which postdoctoral researcher and corresponding author Professor Jianhua “Joshua” Tong said has never been done before. The team used hydrogen to fuel one of the 3D printed PCFCs and found that it produced power consistently for 200-hours. Using 3D printing to fabricate this renewable energy device offers more affordability, consistency, ease of use, and precision, all of which are, as Tong said, “promising for commercialization.” It takes them about three hours to print one PCFC, and the team plans to develop a more advanced design in the future. Tong believes there’s potential for commercialization of the cells in about five years.
Researchers from National University of Singapore have developed a 3D printer that prints mock seafood
A 3D printed calamari Ring prepared in the lab
Alternative seafood products that are more environmentally friendly are in greater demand. Researchers from National University of Singapore have used 3D printing technology to create sustainable mock seafood made of plant-based materials. In their ink they used microalgae, mung beans, which are both high-protein plants, some of which have a fishy flavor. As it’s been a challenge to replicate the flavor of seafood from plant sources, while achieving the same textures and nutritional content, this was a plus. The researchers combined plant-based oils containing omega-3 fats with legume protein in order to simulate the flakiness, mouthfeel and texture of real seafood. The researchers used a food grade 3D printer to deposit edible ink to make a concept of calamari ring that had a similar nutritional profile to real calamari from squid. The team used an air fryer for the initial cooking test to assess the taste and smell of the rings after changing the temperature so that the paste could be extruded easily. They reported that the 3D printed rings tasted “acceptable” and had “promising texture properties.”
“The goal is to get the same texture and elastic properties as the calamari rings that are commercially available. I’m still seeing how the composition impacts the product’s elasticity and the final sensory properties,” said graduate student Poornima Vijayan, who presented the work at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.
3D printing a shoe on your socks
I’ve seen some weird 3D printed shoes, but these may take the cake: meet IMPROSOCKS, a project that was part of a Digital Fabrication course taught by Professor Dov Ganchrow at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. Designers Nimrod Cohen Arazuni and Noga Kamhagi 3D printed the sole of a shoe—which wraps around the top of a sock—onto the bottom part of a sock, and the parts on the upper portion were also printed from the bottom outside of the sock. A frame outside the borders of the fabric was created to print the lace-managing features, which enabled direct-to-textile printing, as well as 3D printing “in the air” around the frame. The shoe’s upper is held together by elastic laces, which provide foot support and give it the final appearance of this bizarre hybrid footwear. The designers created unique sole designs by using Stratasys’ 3DFashionTM technology.
“In analyzing the shoe-sock relationship, we realized that socks are often hidden from view, hence we decided to expose the sock and fuse the entities into one. We have developed a new method to turn existing socks into shoes. Using the advanced technology of 3D printing and scanning softwares, we allow the choice of a personal and unique design tailored to their foot shape and fashion inclination.”
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