Exceeding the Limits: 3D Printing

Scientists at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering are exploring how high-quality, complex parts could be created by submersible vehicle manufacturers using commercial 3D printers. … Traditionally, syntactic foams have been created from tiny, hollow, glass or ceramic spheres held together by resins or other materials. … The syntactic foam filament used by the NYU team, though, is made from a unique mixture of recycled fly ash spheres embedded in a high-density polyethylene plastic (HDPE). Its spheres are small enough to flow through a commercial 3D printer nozzle, which suddenly—and dramatically— increases their potential uses.