Discover The Advantages Of 4D Printing!

Printing specialists are always on the run for finding new technologies that might enable them to develop the best products for their customers. Being able to meet customers’ requirements is a must for becoming a leading printing manufacturer. You need to have something new to offer to your clients if you are interested in being considered as more than just a custom printing manufacturer and developer.

This is how all the leading printing technologies have been developed in the last few years and how future printing technologies will be discovered in the future. 4D printing is the main focus in the industry at the moment and there are real reasons for considering this the latest printing technology. It features amazing opportunities for improvement in terms of printing speed and output quality.

What does 4D printing have to offer?

4D printing is a new project in development that has come out of the unique research collaboration between the MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab, the R&D departments and the Stratasys Education. This is a unique research that focuses on the development of self-assembly type of technologies meant to function in the case of large-scale structures. Those who are aware of the latest printing technologies are already thinking of forgetting all about 3D printing and focusing on 4D printing which can change everything. Scientists at MIT are already using the new technology that has been developed to print responsive objects which are capable of adapting to their surroundings individually.

The emergence of 4D printing

The entire concept behind 4D printing can be summarized this way: it is the technology that enables single strands of materials to be programmed to fold individually. What is required for this technology to work is proper geometry. In the case of 3D printing, the selected geometry enables the process by means of a virtual blueprint plugged for the object. This allows the printer to use it so as to develop the final product step by step.

In the case of 4D printing, things are a bit more complex and some important steps are required to be considered so as to achieve a precise and proper geometry. The precise geometric code involved in 4D printing is based on the angles and the dimensions that characterise each object individually. It also focuses on the necessary measurements for showing the proper way in which shape should be changed when outside forces come into the picture. By outside forces we are referring here to movement and temperature changes.

Multi-dimensional 4D printing features

When we mention 3D and 4D printing we must consider the most recent developments that specialists focus on these days. For example, let’s consider the amazing example of the 3D printer prototype created by a Harvard student and which has become familiar under the name of Mink. What this printer prototype does is enable users to choose any possible color and then actually use it to print out makeup in the selected color. How about that? Who thought that this could even be possible?