Nowadays, people are no longer unfamiliar with 3D printing. From the initial cream-piping stacking technology to the current light-curing technology, and from the early DIY model toys to practical technologies in mechanical, biological, and medical fields, the continuous progress of 3D printing technology is evident. Recently, researchers at the MIT Media Lab have opened a new skill tree for 3D printing—they have enabled 3D printed models to grow hair.
With this new technology, they can print various brush-like structures of different lengths, thicknesses, and orientations on flat and curved surfaces, making 3D printed models fluffy. The printing precision of these fine hairs can reach 50 microns, comparable to the diameter of human hair.
Challenging Fineness
Why print these hairs? Are researchers also worried about receding hairlines? Of course, printing a wig is not out of the question, but that is not the researchers’ true goal. Challenging hair-like structures can unlock new potentials for 3D printing.
The main challenge in printing fine structures like hair does not lie in the 3D printer itself, but in the limitations of the software. If traditional drawing tools were used to model thousands of fine hairs one by one, it would be a very time-consuming and labor-intensive task. To solve this problem, the researchers developed new software called “Cilllia,” which allows users to define the angles, thicknesses, heights, and densities of thousands of hairs in just a few minutes, enabling the printing of various flat and curved objects with hair.
With this software, parameters for 3D printed hairs can be easily adjusted.
Multiple Functions
What can you do with a bunch of hairs? Make a brush? In fact, the functionality of such finely structured 3D printed parts goes far beyond that.
By printing high-density hairs, researchers can create sufficient friction when two independent hairs come into contact, making them a very strong adhesive tool, similar to the Velcro we use in daily life.
When the hairs are at a 30-degree angle to the vertical, they can withstand a pulling force of about 8.4 Newtons, which is enough to suspend an object weighing 850 grams, making it easy to hang small items like keys.
Image from: tangible.media.mit.edu
Moreover, when these hairs encounter vibrations, the effects can be even more diverse. For example, by attaching hairs to the base of a ballet dancer model and letting the vibrations from music make them “dance” on a disc:
Similarly, researchers created a fan with hairs on the bottom that serves as a notification device. When placed on a phone, the fan spins when the phone vibrates:
If a small microphone is added to detect slight vibrations of the hairs, these hairs can also serve as touch sensors. Touching the 3D printed bunny below will light up an LED:
A New Way to Transfer Objects
Through precise settings of height, angle, and density, these 3D printed hairs can accomplish tasks that ordinary brushes find difficult—such as transferring objects along pre-designed paths. By printing hairs at specific angles and heights on a large flat surface, placing small objects on top, and gently vibrating the surface, the hairs can move the objects in a regular motion.
Different directions of hairs can achieve different motion trajectories. Image from: tangible.media.mit.edu
This method can also be used to sort coins of different weights, and the final classification will change when the shaking frequency changes.
It seems that having 3D printing “grow hair” is indeed a pretty good idea.
(Editor: Chuang Qiao Yu; Typesetting: Gan Zhe Xi Xi)
Animated GIFs recorded by Tangible Media Group
References:1.http://news.mit.edu/2016/3-d-print-hair-06172.http://tmg-trackr.media.mit.edu/publishedmedia/Papers/607-Cilllia%20%203D%20Printed%20Micro/Published/PDF
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