MIT Demonstrates Fully 3D Printed, Active Electronic Components

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• IMALlama@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  This is pretty cool.

  This is the how-they-done-it paragraph. Essentially, they printed mechanical logic gates by taking advantage of a conductive filament that grows/shrinks as it heats and cools. Cool!

  The conductive filament the researchers used is Electrifi by Multi3D, which is PLA combined with copper micro-particles. A segment printed in this filament is normally very conductive due to the densely-packed particles, but as temperature increases (beginning around 40° C) the polymer begins to soften and undergoes thermal expansion. This expansion separates the copper particles, causing a dramatic increase in electrical resistance as electrical pathways are disrupted. That’s pretty neat, but what really ties it together is that this behavior is self-resetting, and reversible. As long as the PLA isn’t straight up melted (that is to say, avoids going over about 150° C) then as the material cools it contracts and restores the conductive pathways to their original low-resistance state. Neat!

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  • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    $2.15/g, oof ouch owie

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    • papalonian@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Of course that’s insanely expensive compared to our economy packs of standard PLA, but consider how much conductive filament one would need in comparison to normal filament for a project.

      I’m aware that everything is in the realm of hypotheticals and prototypes, but even if the final product is significantly more expensive than standard filament, it’s not like you’ll need to be able to print entire parts out of it, just the electric traces.

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  • JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    So this is a 3D printed PTC thermistor. Very cool and potentially extremely useful for measuring temperatures within a housing which has never before been able to be done to my knowledge. This is potentially awesome for embedding in medical devices which by regulations cannot be above a specific temperature while in contact with the body.

    That said, there is nothing “active” about it. Thermistors are, by definition, passive electronic components. Actives amplify, rectify, or supply electric energy while passives consume, store, and release supplied energy.

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    • HewlettHackard@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Couldn’t you build an amplifier by using a thin wire that heats up a larger wire? If you size the large wire to minimize self heating, then a small current would cause the thin wire to act as a heater, switching the large current.

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