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Single 3D-printing resin can be hard or rubbery – or a blend of both | A new type of light-activated 3D printing resin gradually morphing from hard to soft states within a single object.


If an object that's composed of two types of material is going to fail, the break will usually occur at the interface where the two meet. A new type of light-activated 3D printing resin addresses that problem, by gradually morphing from hard to soft states within a single object.

Prof. Zak Page and colleagues from The University of Texas at Austin, the liquid resin was inspired by natural materials such as rigid bone which smoothly melds with flexible cartilage. It should be mentioned that scientists at Case Western Reserve University previously developed a somewhat similar material, inspired by squid beaks, which can be made harder or softer by varying the amount of light it's exposed to. And more recently, researchers from the University of California Santa Barbara and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory created a resin that can form a permanent or dissolvable solid, depending on whether it's exposed to ultraviolet or visible light.

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