Tag: Material Science

3D printing is not only a technology to use as an additive manufacturing tool but also aids in enhancing the learning experience. It can be used in hospitals by surgeons and medical students to learn about body parts and prepare the doctors for surgery.
This technology can be used to replicate particles and minute materials and scale them up to a dimension thousands of times larger for study and analysis. It can be used to reduce the universe to the size of a cube that can be fitted in the palm of the hand.
Scientists at the Institute of Materials Science in Barcelona (ICMAB) have designed a technology using 3D printing to educate students about material science. A 3-day course was devised to teach school teachers about the various aspects of material science which is otherwise a difficult subject to grasp in a regular class.
But there was an exception in this case as each participant was given a 3Doodler and numerous crystallographic components like the honeycomb, cube and diamond shapes. These structures will be left unfinished by the participants for the students to complete as a part of their curriculum. This way they would also get an opportunity to learn and showcase their creative skills.
The cube makes up the structure of various elements namely gold. Students went on to replicate the design of these elements by building new structures and understanding their design.
Models of 3D printed atomic force microscopic images were also given in the course, which has been developed by the researchers at ICMAB and these models are being used at the Texas A&M University and Keysight technologies. The scientists engaged in developing this technology are
Anna Crespi, Judit Oró, Maite Simon, and Andrés Gómez, and this project were backed by Fundacio Catalunya-La Pedrera, an organization supporting innovations and development in Spain.

Source: 3Dprint.com

3d printing has been a versatile technology over the past few years. It not only has set the gears in motion but it is a great help to promote STEM education system in generation Y. Incorporation of 3d printers have brought a new revolution in the classroom for students as well as teachers. Applications like CAD design and programming have been highly benefitted with the use of this technology. ICMAB, an institute in Spain has created an educational course specifically about 3d printing technology with a view to teach material science to the students.
Many school teachers have personally tested this course to make sure that this particular course will bring an innovative revolution in 3d printing technology and would be of great help in the classrooms. The course contains a kit that includes 3Doodler 3d printing pen, 3d printed cubic structure, diamond structure, honeycomb structure, 3d printed nano tube and 3d printed AFM image. This course is meant to be completed in 3 days.
Students are asked to create crystallographic structures with the help of 3Doodler. It is to make them understand the concept well and get in depth of the topic that is not possible working with 2d diagrams. Next, with the use of 3d printing pens, they can better understand the formation of nature because they themselves have to build various structures.
For the teachers, the kit contains a 3d printed Atomic force microscopy image that is captured in a high resolution using some scanning technology. Open source technology is used to create 3d AFM image and it is developed at Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona.
Well, no exact number has been specified about how many schools will be benefited from this technology but this 3d printing curriculum is sure to change the way of teaching. Also, it can be used in various ways for the education purpose.

Source: 3ders.org