INTRODUCTION The manufacturing industry has evolved from traditional forging and cutting to three-dimensional(3D)printing,a revolutionary technology that expands human imagination by creating everything of complex sha...INTRODUCTION The manufacturing industry has evolved from traditional forging and cutting to three-dimensional(3D)printing,a revolutionary technology that expands human imagination by creating everything of complex shapes and intricate structures,making it a cornerstone of smart manufacturing.1 However,conventional fabrications may encounter bottlenecks that seriously restrict their printing across different inks,ambient,and post-processing.Adapting existing 3D printing methods to produce target functional components on diverse working media,therefore,requires significant adjustments.As highly adaptable 3D printing inks,liquid metals(LMs)open large spaces to address such challenges due to their versatile capabilities,such as fluidities,conductivities,easy solid-liquid transitions,and more.Although continuous efforts are being increasingly made in LM printing in different media,2 there is still no generalized methodology or concept proposed to unite all LM 3D printing techniques,inks,and media together.To achieve this intriguing target,here we present a unified 3D printing concept,termed pan-media liquid metal 3D printing,to manufacture customized end-user devices as desired.Pan-media 3D printing means that it is able to administrate printing with any ink and any working ambient,from gases and liquids to soft matters,bio-tissues,and rigid media,transcending the boundaries of traditional printing environments.Particularly,with intentionally introduced physical or chemical processing between LM inks and ambient,pan-media LM 3D printing could achieve a much wider variety of 3D object and targeted functions over existing approaches.By synthesizing the pan-media theory of LM 3D printing,we prospect a pan-media manufacturing center equipped with functional ink storage,media library,printing head system,and control units,all integrated to fully address the desired printing tasks.展开更多
基金partially supported by the Beijing National Science Foundation(L212064)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant no.51890893).
文摘INTRODUCTION The manufacturing industry has evolved from traditional forging and cutting to three-dimensional(3D)printing,a revolutionary technology that expands human imagination by creating everything of complex shapes and intricate structures,making it a cornerstone of smart manufacturing.1 However,conventional fabrications may encounter bottlenecks that seriously restrict their printing across different inks,ambient,and post-processing.Adapting existing 3D printing methods to produce target functional components on diverse working media,therefore,requires significant adjustments.As highly adaptable 3D printing inks,liquid metals(LMs)open large spaces to address such challenges due to their versatile capabilities,such as fluidities,conductivities,easy solid-liquid transitions,and more.Although continuous efforts are being increasingly made in LM printing in different media,2 there is still no generalized methodology or concept proposed to unite all LM 3D printing techniques,inks,and media together.To achieve this intriguing target,here we present a unified 3D printing concept,termed pan-media liquid metal 3D printing,to manufacture customized end-user devices as desired.Pan-media 3D printing means that it is able to administrate printing with any ink and any working ambient,from gases and liquids to soft matters,bio-tissues,and rigid media,transcending the boundaries of traditional printing environments.Particularly,with intentionally introduced physical or chemical processing between LM inks and ambient,pan-media LM 3D printing could achieve a much wider variety of 3D object and targeted functions over existing approaches.By synthesizing the pan-media theory of LM 3D printing,we prospect a pan-media manufacturing center equipped with functional ink storage,media library,printing head system,and control units,all integrated to fully address the desired printing tasks.
