Materials
Filaments, resins, and material properties — what to print with, how it behaves, and what it costs.
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Materials
A Polyester That Disappears: BellaSeno's 3D-Printed Breast Scaffolds Reach 30 Patients
BellaSeno says 30 Australian women have now received restorative breast surgery using 3D-printed, medical-grade polycaprolactone scaffolds that seed with the patient's own fat, then dissolve over one to two years.
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Materials
A Pinch of Turmeric: How Curcumin Fixes the Blur in Ceramic Resin Printing
Hunan University researchers found that curcumin, the yellow compound in turmeric, both absorbs stray 405 nm light and scavenges free radicals, cutting radical signals ~43.6% and pushing DLP ceramic fidelity to ~26 microns at just 0.01-0.02 wt%.
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Materials
Italian Valve Maker Valland Proves Automotive Scrap Aluminum Can Feed Metal 3D Printers
Valland's EU-backed ToZero project turned AA5083 scrap from car body manufacturing into laser powder bed fusion feedstock, printing a crack-free structural part while cutting carbon footprint 73%.
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Materials
SUSTech's Expansion-Forming 3D Printing Method Nearly Triples Composite Honeycomb Strength
A new expansion-forming 3D printing process from SUSTech gives continuous-fiber composite honeycombs non-0-degree fiber orientations, boosting specific compressive strength 198.64% and cutting dimensional error 82.76% versus conventional printed honeycombs.
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Materials
Caltech's 3D-Printed Lattice Cathode Rethinks Lithium-Ion Battery Architecture
Caltech's Julia Greer lab used hydrogel-infusion additive manufacturing to print a cobalt-free, 3D-architected LiFePO4 cathode that shortens lithium-ion travel paths versus flat layered electrodes.
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Materials
Baked, Printed, Ready: Chalmers Turns Baker's Yeast Into 3D-Printable Architecture
Chalmers researchers built a fully bio-based, biodegradable architectural material around deactivated baker's yeast, pressure-printed at room temperature with no support structures, and debuted printed screens and panels in a June 2026 premiere.
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Materials
TPU vs TPE vs TPC: Choosing the Right Flexible Filament for the Job
Flexible filaments are not interchangeable. TPU, TPE, and TPC differ substantially in hardness, chemical resistance, print temperature, and long-term fatigue behavior. Choosing the wrong one means a part that either fails in service or was never printable in the first place.
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Materials
Matte Filament: Why Dull Finishes Are Sometimes the Better Choice
Matte PLA and PETG reduce layer-line visibility, photograph better under broad lighting, and hide fingerprints. Here's how the finish is produced and where it makes sense.
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Materials
High-Flow Filaments: What They Are and Why Your Speed Printer Needs Them
At 300+ mm/s, standard PLA becomes the bottleneck — not the motion system. High-flow filaments are formulated to melt faster, enabling speed printers to reach their actual potential.
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Materials
PVDF (Kynar) Filament: The Extreme Engineering Material Few Makers Know About
Polyvinylidene fluoride withstands aggressive chemicals, operates at up to 150°C, and resists UV indefinitely. Printing it is genuinely difficult — but for the right applications, nothing else compares.
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Materials
Bio-Based and Sustainable 3D Printing Materials: Beyond Petroleum-Derived PLA
PLA is bio-derived but not biodegradable in typical conditions. The next generation of sustainable filaments — PHA, hemp composites, and bio-PETG — offers different trade-offs worth understanding.
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Materials
Glass Fiber vs Carbon Fiber Filament: Which Reinforcement Is Right for Your Application?
Both add stiffness and reduce weight compared to base filaments. But GF and CF have different mechanical profiles, abrasion demands, and cost structures that make them suited to different tasks.
