Engineers and product designers have more rapid prototyping choices than an aficionado at an art fair. Stereolithography (SLA), selective laser sintering (SLS), fused deposition modeling (FDM) and direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) are but some of the available additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, which cover a range of materials from nylon, polycarbonate, PEEK (polyether ether ketone)[…]
Oxford Performance Materials (OPM), South Windsor, Conn., made medical history in February when they received the first Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for their polymer laser-sintered OsteoFab Patient-Specific Cranial Device (OPSCD). The customizable implant is designed to restore voids in the skull caused by trauma or disease. Manufactured in a matter of hours[…]
Once-revolutionary microdevices that allow doctors to examine internal parts of the human body are now commonplace. One of the most commonly used of these devices is the endoscope, and its use is growing. The U.S. endoscopy market was valued at more than $9.87 billion in 2011, according to Sara Whitmore, analyst manager at iData Research[…]
Ever since British machine inventor Henry Maudslay introduced the first modern screw-cutting lathe towards the end of the 18th century, machinists have been cussing him. True, the world as we know it couldn’t exist without screw threads, but that doesn’t make cutting them any easier. Compared to other turning operations, single-point threading is slow, requiring[…]
You’re sitting nervously in the dentist’s chair. Dr. Hurt is preparing your abscessed tooth for a root canal. Your mouth is pried open wide enough to swallow a baseball, and all you can hear is the high-pitched whine of the drill while a fine mist of bone particles, water and blood swirls through the harsh[…]
Spiders have been doing it for millions of years: Spinning out material that’s stronger than steel, and—metaphorically at least—lighter than air. Luckily for the spider, she doesn’t have to cut tight-tolerance features on her delicate tapestry, or twist it up into precision coils and helix shapes to catch her meals. The microwire industry is spinning[…]