Quick Summary
• MIT Researchers Develop Multi-Material 3D Printer for Electric Motors February 26
Additional Context
Researchers at MIT have created a 3D printing platform capable of producing electric motors using multiple functional materials in a single process. The system uses four specialized extruders that can handle different forms of printable materials, including electrically conductive and magnetic materials. The printer switches between extruders as it builds devices layer by layer.
The research team used their platform to produce a fully functional electric linear motor in approximately three hours using five different materials. The motor required only one post-processing step – magnetizing the hard magnetic materials – to become fully operational. Material costs for each device are estimated at around 50 cents.
The custom-built system required significant engineering work to integrate dif