Credit: Illustration by Jake Long/TID.
Nicknamed “The Replicator,” the breakthrough volumetric additive manufacturing technology co-developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley takes computed tomography (CT) “views” of 3D objects from multiple angles, and projects these images into a photosensitive resin. The resin cures at points where the accumulated, absorbed light energy exceeds the gel thresholds, and when the remaining liquid resin is drained, it produces 3D objects within seconds or minutes, much faster than traditional layer-by-layer 3D printing techniques.