Exceeding the Limits: 3D Printing


Article cites research led by Nikhil Gupta, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

… Scientists at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering are exploring how high-quality, complex parts could be created by submersible vehicle manufacturers using commercial 3D printers. … Traditionally, syntactic foams have been created from tiny, hollow, glass or ceramic spheres held together by resins or other materials. ... The syntactic foam filament used by the NYU team, though, is made from a unique mixture of recycled fly ash spheres embedded in a high-density polyethylene plastic (HDPE). Its spheres are small enough to flow through a commercial 3D printer nozzle, which suddenly—and dramatically— increases their potential uses. 

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