Future Links November 26th
Today our news roundup from the printing industry covers a new material for printed electronics, an online course for bioprinting body parts, an inkjet printer for holograms, Toshiba’s fast laser metal printer, cost savings in the healthcare industry through intelligent packaging, Smurfit Kappa’s award winning box and new on the drupa blog: Photos come alive with augmented reality.
Graphene 3D Labs presents new material for printed electronics
Graphene 3D Labs has announced a new material called Graphene Flex Foam. When used in conjunction with most commercially available 3D printers, the flexible, conductive material could lead to a new wave of fashionable electronic devices. Graphene Flex Foam is a combination of three-dimensional graphene foam and an elastomer composite material that preserves the highly conductive properties of graphene.
More at New York Business Journal
Online course to learn how to 3D print body parts
When it comes to acquiring useful knowledge for the future, this online course certainly gets high marks. A four-week online course, called ‘Bioprinting: 3D Printing Body Parts’ provides a glimpse of how 3D printing and new biocompatible materials are helping scientists and surgeons come up with new approaches to healthcare. The course is offered free of charge by the University of Wollongong’s Australian Institute for Innovative Materials in partnership with the global online learning platform FutureLearn.
More at International Business Times
Inkjet printer can produce holograms
Holograms are often used to prevent the falsification of bank notes, ID cards and credit card. Now, vivid holographic images and text can be produced with an ordinary inkjet printer. The method, developed by a team of scientists from ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, is expected to significantly reduce the cost and time needed to create the so-called rainbow holograms.
More at Laboratory Equipment
Toshiba developed fast laser metal printer
Toshiba has developed a new nozzle that has enabled the company to build a 3D metal printer that it says is 10 times faster than units that rely on powder bed fusion. Toshiba’s laser metal deposition printer sinters tiny metal particles before modeling them into the desired shape.
More at Tech Times
Intelligent packaging can help healthcare save 10 billion USD annually
One of the biggest problems in healthcare is patient compliance. People often miss doses, forget to take their medication or take twice the prescribed doses due to memory problems. Intelligent packaging that is connected to the cloud will be able to help, that’s at least what experts believe. They predict that intelligent pharmaceutical packaging connected to the internet of things can save 10 billion USD annually in healthcare costs.
More at Tech Republic
Smurfit Kappa won UK packaging award
Packaging for the ecommerce sector is still evolving and good ideas abound. Smurfit Kappa is one of the companies developing such ideas into products and now, their efforts have been rewarded at the UK Packaging Awards 2015. Smurfit Kappa’s chilled recipe box for HelloFresh, the leading ‘cook-from-scratch’ home delivery service, was chosen from seven finalists for the first prize.
More at Packaging Europe
New on the drupa blog: Photos come alive with augmented reality
Harry Potter has sparked the imagination of countless kids and adults. And now, the lines between print and movies are blurring in real life, too. The Californian start-up LifePrint has developed a technology using augmented reality to bring printed photos to life.
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