New 3D Printing Method Makes Metals 20 Times Stronger
- 29-10-2025
- Additive Manufacturing
- News
- Article
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A method developed at ETH Lausanne allows metal objects to be produced from 3D-printed hydrogels with unprecedented density and strength.
3D-printed iron lattice structure: Researchers are using a hydrogel-based process to create extremely dense and stable metal objects.
ALCHEMY EPFL CC BY SA
A research team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne has developed a novel process for producing 3D-printed structures from metals and ceramics that are significantly denser and more stable than previous additively manufactured materials. The process is based on a combination of hydrogel templates and chemical conversion. Specifically, in what is known as “vat photopolymerization,” light-sensitive resins are cured layer by layer using a laser or UV light.
Until now, this method has been limited to polymers. Previous attempts to use it to produce metal or ceramic parts often resulted in porous and warped structures. The team led by Daryl Yee, head of the Laboratory of Materials and Manufacturing Chemistry at ETH Lausanne, circumvents this weakness by first printing a hydrogel scaffold. Only after production is it saturated with metal salts and chemically converted into nanoparticles that penetrate the entire scaffold.
20 Times Higher Strength
After several passes, a dense composite is created, according to a statement from the university, which is heated in a final step – the gel burns away, leaving behind the metal structure. According to lead author Yiming Ji, the gyroid structures made of iron, silver, or copper are 20 times more pressure-resistant than previous comparable materials and shrink by only about 20% during sintering instead of up to 90%.
The process is said to be particularly suitable for components that need to be lightweight, stable, and complex in shape – such as in sensors, catalysts, or energy systems. The goal now is to shorten the process time and further increase the material density. To this end, work is underway on robot-assisted automation of the individual infusion steps.
The research results were recently presented in the journal Advanced Materials.
This is a partly automated translation of this german article.
