Skip to main content

Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

3 comments

This New Filament Could Turn Any Cheap 3D Printer Into a Smart Manufacturing Machine

3D printing has changed the way people make products. Today, it is used to build everything from toys and tools to medical devices and machine parts. It is fast, affordable and allows people to create complex designs that are difficult to make using traditional manufacturing methods.

The most common type of 3D printer is called Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). It works by melting a plastic filament and placing it layer by layer until a complete object is formed. These printers are popular because they are inexpensive and easy to use. Millions of people around the world use them at home, in schools, universities and industries.

However, there is one big problem. Most FDM printers can print with only one material at a time. This means every part of the printed object has almost the same properties. For example, the whole object may be hard, flexible or one color. It is difficult to create an object that is partly soft, partly hard, electrically conductive or made with smooth color changes.

Now, researchers Ahn, Lee and Cho have developed a new method that solves this problem. They created a special Digital Material (DM) filament that allows ordinary desktop 3D printers to print objects with different properties in different areas. Best of all, their method works with standard FDM printers that many people already own.

Learning From Nature

Nature is full of amazing materials. Many living things are not made from one single material. Instead, their properties change from one place to another.

For example, human bones are hard on the outside but lighter inside. Fish scales combine flexibility with strength to protect the fish. Mussels use special threads that are soft in one area and strong in another so they can stay attached to rocks even in strong waves.

Scientists call these Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs). Instead of having the same properties everywhere, these materials gradually change from one section to another.

Engineers want to copy this idea because it can produce stronger, lighter and smarter products. However, making these materials has always been difficult and expensive.

Why Current 3D Printers Have Limits

Many advanced 3D printers can print with several materials, but they usually cost a lot of money. Some use many nozzles, while others use special liquid materials. These systems are mainly found in research labs and large industries.

Desktop FDM printers are much cheaper, but they have an important limitation. They normally use only one filament at a time.

Even printers with two or more nozzles usually switch from one material to another instead of mixing them smoothly. This creates clear boundaries between materials instead of a gradual change.

Because of this, it has been very difficult to print objects that combine different strengths, flexibility, electrical properties and colors using affordable printers.

A Smart Filament Instead of a New Printer

Instead of changing the printer, the researchers changed the filament.

They created a special Digital Material filament, also called a DM filament.

This filament is made by carefully combining different materials inside one single filament. The materials are placed in special patterns and in different amounts depending on the final design.

The clever part is what happens during printing.

When the DM filament passes through the heated nozzle of the printer, the different materials melt and mix together evenly. The printed object gets exactly the material properties that were planned when the filament was made.

The researchers call this new printing method Blended FDM (b-FDM).

Printing Different Properties in One Object

Because the material changes inside the filament, different parts of the printed object can have different properties.

For example, one object can include:

  • Strong areas for support.

  • Soft and flexible areas for movement.

  • Stretchable sections.

  • Parts that conduct electricity.

  • Parts that block electricity.

  • Smooth color changes.

All of these features can be printed using one specially designed filament and one ordinary desktop printer.

Making Strong and Flexible Parts Together

One of the biggest advantages of this method is that it allows engineers to control how strong or flexible different parts of an object are.

Imagine printing a robotic hand.

The fingers need to bend easily, but the palm must stay strong. With traditional FDM printing, this is difficult because the entire object is usually made from one material.

Using the new DM filament, the printer can make the fingers flexible while keeping the rest of the hand strong.

This creates products that work better and last longer.

Printing Electrical Circuits

The researchers also showed that their method can control electrical conductivity.

Some parts of the printed object can carry electricity, while other parts cannot.

This means electrical circuits can be built directly into the printed object without adding wires later.

The team successfully printed electrical sensors that can detect bending and touch. These sensors could be useful in wearable devices, robots and smart products.

Printing Many Colors

The new method also makes color printing much easier.

Normally, a printer needs several colored filaments to produce colorful objects.

The researchers showed that by using only four basic color filaments, they could create a wide range of colors.

Since the colors mix inside the nozzle, the printer can produce smooth color changes instead of sudden color differences.

This gives designers much more freedom when creating products.

A Smart Origami Gripper

To demonstrate their invention, the researchers printed a special origami gripper.

This device folds and unfolds like paper origami.

Different parts of the gripper had different jobs.

The flat sections were strong to support the structure.

The folding joints were flexible so they could move easily.

The gripper also included electrical circuits, bending sensors and touch sensors.

All these features were printed together using one DM filament and a normal FDM printer.

Without this new method, building such a device would require many separate parts and several manufacturing steps.

Affordable for Everyone

One of the best things about this research is that it does not require expensive equipment.

Many advanced multi-material 3D printers are too costly for schools, small businesses and hobbyists.

This new method works with the same desktop FDM printers that millions of people already use.

Instead of buying a new printer, users only need the specially designed DM filament.

This could make advanced 3D printing much more affordable and widely available.

Where Could It Be Used?

This technology has many possible uses.

Doctors could print medical devices that are soft where they touch the body but strong where support is needed.

Engineers could build robots with flexible joints and rigid frames in a single print.

Manufacturers could print electronic parts with built-in sensors and electrical circuits.

Artists and designers could create products with smooth color gradients and unique patterns.

The technology could also reduce the number of parts needed in many products, making manufacturing faster and simpler.

Some Challenges Remain

Although the results are exciting, the technology is still being improved.

Making the special DM filament takes extra time.

Standard FDM printers also have limited printing resolution, making it difficult to create very small changes in material properties.

Researchers are working on making the process faster and increasing the length of the printable filament.

Even with these challenges, the method already shows great promise.

A Big Step for 3D Printing

This research shows that a simple change to the filament can greatly improve what an ordinary 3D printer can do.

Instead of printing objects made from only one material, desktop printers could soon create products with different strengths, flexibility, electrical conductivity and colors—all in a single print.

Because the technology works with existing FDM printers, it could quickly be adopted around the world without the need for expensive new machines.

As the method continues to improve, it could help create smarter robots, better medical devices, advanced electronics and many other innovative products. It is a simple idea with the potential to make 3D printing more powerful, more affordable and more useful than ever before.

Reference: Ahn, SJ., Lee, H. & Cho, KJ. 3D printing with a 3D printed digital material filament for programming functional gradients. Nat Commun 15, 3605 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47480-5

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular

Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

For years, scientists believed that adding even one qubit (a unit of quantum information) to a black hole needed energy. This was based on the idea that a black hole’s entropy must increase with more information, which means it must gain energy. But a new study by Jonah Kudler-Flam and Geoff Penington changes that thinking. They found that quantum information can be teleported into a black hole without adding energy or increasing entropy . This works through a process called black hole decoherence , where “soft” radiation — very low-energy signals — carry information into the black hole. In their method, the qubit enters the black hole while a new pair of entangled particles (like Hawking radiation) is created. This keeps the total information balanced, so there's no violation of the laws of physics. The energy cost only shows up when information is erased from the outside — these are called zerobits . According to Landauer’s principle, erasing information always needs energy. But ...
3 comments
Read more

A New Type of Wormhole Could Slowly Become Stable Over Time, Scientists Suggest

For many years, wormholes have captured the imagination of scientists and science fiction fans. They are often shown as magical tunnels through space that can connect two faraway places in the universe. If wormholes really exist, they could one day make it possible to travel huge distances in a very short time. But there is one big problem—no one has ever found a real wormhole. They remain only theoretical objects predicted by the mathematics of Einstein's theory of general relativity. Even though they have never been observed, physicists continue studying them because they help us understand the limits of gravity and spacetime. Now, researchers Ditta and Channuie have proposed a new model of a time-dependent traversable wormhole . Unlike many earlier models, their wormhole is not completely still. Instead, it changes with time because energy flows through it. As this flow slowly fades away, the wormhole naturally becomes stable. Their study offers a new and simple way to understan...
Post a Comment
Read more

Black Holes That Never Dies

Black holes are powerful objects in space with gravity so strong that nothing can escape them. In the 1970s, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes can slowly lose energy by giving off tiny particles. This process is called Hawking radiation . Over time, the black hole gets smaller and hotter, and in the end, it disappears completely. But new research by Menezes and his team shows something different. Using a theory called Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) , they studied black holes with quantum corrections. In their model, the black hole does not vanish completely. Instead, it stops shrinking when it reaches a very small size. This leftover is called a black hole remnant . They also studied something called grey-body factors , which affect how much energy escapes from a black hole. Their findings show that the black hole cools down and stops losing mass once it reaches a minimum mass . This new model removes the idea of a “singularity” at the center of the black hole and gives us a better ...
Post a Comment
Read more