MakerSpace
Moment
January 2023
Knit & Crochet Club is Now Fiber Arts Club
Now you can bring any fiber art project you're working on and socialize with other fiber artists. If you are a beginner, you can come and try out our supplies and learn about different fiber crafts as supplies and staff are available. Join us the 2nd Tuesday of each month starting here in January on the 10th. Come and go during the 4-7pm time period as your schedule allows.
Expandable 3D Print Material
Material scientist at UC San Diego have been experimenting with resin printing that can expand. Using a Anycubic resin printer just like the one in the MakerSpace, they added a resin mixture to it that would react to heat after the finished printed piece was removed from the printer. One part of the mixture is known as the blowing agent which is able to create the cellular structure consistent with foam. The other part of the mixture was the monomer which served as the base of the resin. After much experimentation of ratios of the selected monomers, blowing agents, cure times, and photoinitiater the scientists were able to expand the prints to 4000%.

This form of printing could have manufacturing potential making smaller printers able to produce foam items that are much larger than what most resin printers can handle. These foam prints could be used to manufacture parts for space and aircrafts or marine floatation. It could also make transporting these parts easier since they could be expanded at the location where they are needed.

See the video below to see the 3D prints in action
References
Fisher, C. (2020, May 8). This 3D-printed foam expands up to 40 times its original size. Engadget. Retrieved December 29, 2022, from https://www.engadget.com/ucsd-3d-printed-expandable-foam-195037420.html

Sertoglu, K. (2020, April 23). Researchers develop highly expandable foam resin for SLA 3D printing. 3D Printing Industry. Retrieved December 29, 2022, from https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/researchers-develop-highly-expandable-foam-resin-for-sla-3d-printing-170999/

Wirth, D. M., Jaquez, A., Gandarilla, S., Hochberg, J. D., Church, D. C., & Pokorski, J. K. (2020). Highly expandable foam for lithographic 3D printing. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 12(16), 19033–19043. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c02683

YouTube. (2020). Expandable foam could be new material for 3D printing | Future Blink. YouTube. Retrieved December 29, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OxOc0skzOA&t=62s.