New Materials

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Most hearing AIDS are made by a 3D printing process

You may not know it, but if you wear a hearing aid, you will be very likely to be part of the 3D printing revolution

Almost all hearing AIDS today are produced with the technology.

Also known as additive manufacturing, 3D printing requires the construction of Layers of Material - Plastic , metal, or synthetic Resin , and glue them together, until, finally, the finished product.

"in the past, the production had to be of the sole competence of the modellers was hearing the finished each piece by hand in a time-and cost-intensive process," says Stefan Launer, senior vice president at Sonova, the power.

"Now, once an order is placed, it takes only delivered a couple of days for the finished product, and the customer receives a hearing aid with individual fit," he says.

3D-printed hearing AIDS are fast and each of

matches If the 3D-started pressure to arise, the promised 20 years ago, its boosters, that it will revolutionize many industries.

And in many ways, it is a great success. In The Year 2018, 1. 4 million 3D printers were sold worldwide, and is expected to rise to 8 million in the year 2027, according to Grand View Research.

"In terms of technology, it has continuously discovered new applications introduced with New Materials and machines every year," says Galina Spasova, senior research analyst at IDC in Europe.

revolutionizing The technique of the dental industry, she says, cutting the time it takes to crowns and bridges, as well as so that you can more accurately.

On a larger scale, Boeing is using 3D-printed Parts in his spaceship, commercial and defense aircraft, while Bae Systems uses the technology, the components for the Typhoon fighter.

There's even a 3D printer on The International Space Station, where it is used to share create a replacement.

Nova vegetable steak imitates muscle with 3D printing

But many applications are still on a smaller, experimental scale.

For example, food can be printed in 3D. Barcelona-based Nova-meat recently, a plant unveiled-based steak derived from pea, rice, seaweed, and other ingredients.

With 3D printing allows the ingredients to be set, such as a criss-cross bristles that mimic the intracellular proteins in the muscle cells.

"This strategy allowed us to define the resulting texture in terms of chewing gum-like behavior, and the tensile and compressive strength, and imitate The Taste and nutritional properties, a variety of meat, fish and seafood, as well as their appearance," says Giuseppe Scionti, founder of Nova meat.

until next year, he says, in the restaurants could print the steaks for Themselves .

Layers 'steak' can be set to create a criss-cross pattern, texture,

One of The Most exciting fields for 3D printing is medicine. For some time now, the medical professionals 3D-printing-prosthetics, which can be made for a fraction of the usual price.

you can also get frostbite easily personalized to the individual Patient - in fact, earlier this year, a cat in Russia was within four 3D-printed titanium-feet after the loss of their own.

medicines are 3D-printed - Something that is particularly useful in the treatment of small children, the lower dosages as a default.

As a co-Director at NIHR Alder Hey Clinical Research facility for Experimental medicine-professor Matthew Peak points out, "the majority of The drugs available to children was not designed with children or, in fact, tested in clinical trials with children. "

Last year, his team was The First in The World to a child a 3D-printed pill; in the meantime, other researchers can create pills that are made individually for each Patient .

Perhaps most extraordinary of all is The Work done, to 3D printing of human organs. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the USA recently announced that they had developed a way to 3D-print, vibrant skin, complete with blood vessels, the as a graft for burn victims.

It is yet to Overcome hurdles - the technology was only in mice so far, and The Work must be done to ensure that the grafts are rejected. But, says associate professor Pankaj Karande, once transplanted onto a special type of mouse that ships from the printed skin in the location were, the connection with the mouse, the own ships.

"This is extremely important, because we know that it is actually a transfer of blood and nutrients to the graft to keep the graft alive," he says.

The walls of this house were built by the robot - people will always hope still needed to build the roof

Some of that technology can be used on a much larger scale.

"We believe that 3D printing of homes and buildings will change the way The World is built," says Kirk Andersen, chief engineer of the New York firm SQ4D.

Earlier this year, his company has built, to build a 1,900-square-foot house in just Eight Days , by a robot, the walls, layer-by-layer.

The roof needs to be built on construction sites.

The Process "dramatically" reduces the amount of Material and labor costs are used in the construction industry, according to Mr. Anderson. The company estimates that the house cost to build 70% less than an equivalent property built with traditional methods.

The technology is still in development, but a series of 3D-printed buildings, give a glimpse of what One Day be possible.

While 3D printing is often used in the automotive industry and aviation, where the technology is evaluated, for the manufacture of prototypes, tools and Parts , most of the items that you buy, are likely to come to mass production on production lines for some time.

This article is the third in a mini-series on disruptive industries. You can find here.

3d printing, medicine, construction industry

Source of news: bbc.com