CaddMan 3D

WE ARE smack bang in the middle of a second industrial revolution.

3D printing, or “additive manufacturing” as it is more properly known, is about to transform every single aspect of our lives.

Machines today can print objects out of almost any material – from nylon to glass, from chocolate to titanium – and with any complex geometry. This is transforming not just engineering, but many other fields, including education, archaeology, bio-printing and even food printing. Look online and you will see thousands of objects ready to be printed on demand, from custom-shaped hearing aids to authentic-looking replicas of ancient cuneiform tablets.

More importantly, soon anyone will be able to make complex products quickly and cheaply, something that will democratise innovation and unleash human creativity.

The next stage of this journey, which we are just beginning to experience, is control over the composition of such printed matter – going beyond shaping geometry, to shaping the internal structure of materials – with unprecedented fidelity. Forget the traditional limitations imposed by conventional manufacturing, in which each part is made of a single material. Instead, we are talking about specifying microstructure with micrometre-scale precision.

We are making materials within materials, and embedding and weaving multiple materials into complex patterns. We can print hard and soft materials in patterns that create bizarre and new structural behaviours, like materials that expand laterally when pulled longitudinally.

This flexibility means you will soon be able to print a custom tennis racket that cleverly compensates for your unique weaknesses, or a replacement spinal-disc implant exactly tailored for your bad back.