Researchers mimic crystal lattices to make stronger 3-D printed objects

A team of researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Sheffield has developed a way to mimic the attributes of crystal lattices to make stronger 3D printed materials. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes how they transferred characteristics of microscopic structures to a 3D printed polymer and stainless-steel lattices with nodes and struts analogous to the atoms and bonds of crystals. Gang Seob Jung and Markus Buehler with MIT offer a News and Views piece on the work done by the team in Great Britain in the same journal.
The researchers note that microscopic crystal grains lie at the heart of metals, giving them strength and resistance to fracturing. They further note that the orientation of grain lattices in such crystals is important for providing such strength. Not always lining up, or butting up against a different structure helps prevent materials made of them from propagating small fractures, making them more robust. In this new effort, the researchers applied the same ideas too much larger 3D printed objects with the hope of giving them more strength as well.