Additive
Manufacturing
Revolutionizing 3D bioprinting through acoustically-assisted volumetric fabrication.
Core Technology
SONOPRINT
The Challenge
Micro-alignment in Volumetric Printing.
“Volumetric 3D (bio)printing is a significant emerging technology that facilitates creating objects as entire entities; this has great potential to revolutionize additive manufacturing.”
Current volumetric methods face a critical limitation: they cannot align microparticles or cells during the fabrication process. This alignment is essential for functional applications in tissue engineering, food science, composite structures, and advanced electronics.
Our research group at the ARTORG Center focuses on overcoming these hurdles by integrating external physical fields with ultra-fast volumetric printing techniques, enabling the next generation of complex composite geometries.
Acoustic Assistance
Leveraging ultrasonic fields to manipulate and align cells or particles in-situ during the printing cycle.
Composite Geometries
Developing the capability to produce multi-material, heterogeneous structures with precise internal architectures.
Research Leads
Lead Researcher
ARTORG Center
Our multidisciplinary team combines expertise in mechanical engineering, acoustics, and bio-fabrication.
Technological Breakthrough
Introducing SonoPrint
Acoustically Assisted Volumetric Printing.
We overcame the alignment hurdle for the first time by introducing SonoPrint. This innovative system integrates an external acoustic field with volumetric printing to enable the 3D fabrication of complex composite structures.
By synchronizing light projections with standing acoustic waves, SonoPrint can pattern particles into desired distributions within seconds, before the surrounding resin is solidified, ensuring structural and functional integrity.
Literature
Recent Output
Journal of Additive Manufacturing
2024
SonoPrint: Acoustically-assisted volumetric 3D bioprinting of composite structures
Comprehensive study on the integration of acoustic manipulation within a tomographic printing setup.