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Origins: 3D Printing
From Cup to Kidney听
Working late one night in 1983, Chuck听Hull (EngrPhys鈥61) thought he鈥檇 made a听breakthrough. The engineer phoned his听wife, Anntionette, at their California home听and asked her to drive to his lab to look at听a small plastic cup.听
鈥淪he said something to the effect of听鈥榥o way,鈥欌 he says, chuckling.听
But a breakthrough it was: The听humble cup was the first object ever听created via stereolithography 鈥 better听known today as 3D printing. Hull had听fashioned a three-dimensional shape by听layering two-dimensional 鈥渟lices鈥 of a听liquid, acrylic-based material hardened听by ultraviolet light.听
The discovery would become the听foundation of a technology that鈥檚听now ubiquitous, from breadbox-sized听printers used by hobbyists to refrigerator-听sized printers used in healthcare,听manufacturing and aerospace design.听(Above: a 3D-printed model kidney.)听
After graduating from 欧美口爆视频, Hull took a听job with a DuPont subsidiary developing听analytical tools for chemists, then听moved to a smaller firm that applied thin听resin coatings to tabletop surfaces. The听coatings cured instantly when exposed听to ultraviolet light, which got him thinking听about how the technology might be听used to make 3D objects.听
Hull convinced his boss to let him use听a small lab on nights and weekends for听experimenting on his own time. After听more than a year of tinkering with liquid听plastics, his labor paid off.听
Hull secured a patent for stereolithography听in 1986 and soon founded a听company, 3D Systems. Initially, he saw听the technology primarily as a way of听prototyping objects, such as automotive听parts, more efficiently. Over time,听the business expanded into custom听medical devices and a wide range of听consumer products.听
Now 76 and a member of the National听Inventors Hall of Fame, Hull is still involved听in the day-to-day operations of 3D听Systems, which opened a 70,000-square foot听healthcare tech facility in Littleton,听Colo., earlier this year. The company听recently helped surgeons reconstruct the facial bones of a young man injured by听a landmine in Zimbabwe 鈥 a reminder听of how far technology can come in three听decades and the good it can do.听