Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Control over composition
In the second stage of convergence, 3D printing will give us precise control
over what things are made of, or their material composition. Multi-material
3D printers will open the door to the production of novel objects. This new
class of object will be made of precise blends of raw materials whose combined
whole will be greater than the sum of its parts.
Imagine a water color kit where blue can be mixed with yellow to form a
nearly ininite number of different shades of green. In nature, 22 amino acids
combine in different ways to create proteins of staggering variety. A multi-
material 3D printer armed with precise instructions from a design ile will be
able to blend familiar raw materials into novel combinations.
When 3D printing technology evolves, we will see the fabrication of objects
made of currently unfeasible blends of materials. We will see machine parts
that can heal from failure. Or mesh that can stretch to nearly ten times its
original length. Medical devices will respond to a particular patient's blood
type or detect changes in temperature.
The second avenue of control over composition lies in a slightly different
direction. 3D printers will someday fabricate controllable materials. In the
virtual world, all information, no matter how complex, ultimately boils down
to its bare essence, two base units: a 1 or a zero.
In contrast, physical things are made of rich, non-modular swirls of raw
material whose base units are atoms that are unruly and hard to control.
Because of the material diversity found in the physical world, “analog” mate-
rials are dificult to capture in digital form in a meaningful way. As a result,
analog materials are dificult to precisely copy, control, and program.
Incompatible atoms are a manufacturer's nightmare. True, a 3D printer can't
smash open atoms to make them more malleable. What a 3D printer can do,
however, is to artfully blend together once-incompatible raw materials into a
single printed object.
Electronic circuits are notorious for the fact that their metal parts must irst
be made separately from their ceramic and plastic parts and assembled later.
The fact that the raw materials that make up a circuit's critical components
must be made on separate manufacturing machines has dictated that circuit
boards be lat and made up of several thin layers.
If the components of electronic circuits didn't suffer from the curse of
incompatibility, we could create circuits of all shapes and forms. If we could
combine conductive and non-conductive materials together on a 3D printer,
