Columbia Science Review
  • Home
  • About
    • Our Team
  • Blog
  • Events
    • 2022-2023
    • 2021-2022
    • 2020-2021
    • 2019-2020
    • 2018-2019
    • 2017-2018
    • 2016-2017
  • Publications
  • COVID-19 Public Hub
    • Interviews >
      • Biology of COVID-19
      • Public Health
      • Technology & Data
    • Frontline Stories >
      • Healthcare Workers
      • Global Health
      • Volunteer Efforts
    • Resources & Links >
      • FAQ's
      • Resource Hubs
      • Student Opportunities
      • Podcasts & Graphics
      • Mental Health Resources
      • Twitter Feeds
      • BLM Resources
    • Columbia Events >
      • Campus Events
      • CUMC COVID-19 Symposium
      • CSR Events
    • Our Team
  • Contact

Creation of Materials Through Light

11/8/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
By Hari Nanthakumar

In the common and just slightly overused film representation of cavemen, our ancestors gaze at the bright, fluttering, and stupidly majestic light of fire with expressions of varying combinations of amazement, fear, and confusion, and all with an infinite curiosity that often leads to Hollywood’s idea of a well-thought-out joke—charred hair and soot-covered skin. Having higher intelligence and sophistication (or so we think), we might laugh at our foolish predecessors, who were amazed and befuddled by something as ordinary and simple as light. The closest we seem to get to that same feeling of awe in the face of light nowadays is staring at the bright lights of Butler Library late at night with sleep-drunk and beautifully clueless minds.

However, a change is brewing. Recent developments in the use of light to revolutionize materials and products are beginning to bring out that same feeling of exhilaration and awe that our ancestors felt so many years ago.

Just last year, Adidas, together with the startup Carbon, released the Futurecraft 4D, a sneaker manufactured through Digital Light Synthesis (DLS). It seems a little wild, but this essentially means that the sneaker was carved out by light. In DLS, an ultraviolet light is used to harden a photocurable polymer resin, a liquid solution that is reactive to light, within minutes. By projecting an image of the shoe onto the mixture, thereby controlling which parts of the resin harden, the light very quickly chisels out the structure of the shoe, leaving its structure surrounded by a solution of uncured resin. The structure is then baked, leaving the fully-functional prototype of a shoe.

This is the first time that such a method has been used to manufacture shoes. Previously, three-dimensional printing had been used to create certain components of footwear, but the finished product still required more traditional methods such as molding, which can take as long as a month. The necessary additional processes severely extended the time needed to advance new innovations and versions.

DLS changes this. Digital light allows the creation of several new, specially tailored versions within a single day, advancing the landscape of the footwear manufacturing process for years to come. The incredible flexibility in changing the projections of light that can be produced gives manufacturers the unique ability to easily influence the architecture of the shoe. It opens up a future in which shoes are made to beautifully and perfectly fit everyone’s feet and to suit their specific tasks—from running to daily life—with the entire process of design-to-product lasting a matter of minutes. And as the process becomes more common and more cost-efficient, footwear made out of light will be everywhere.

This is not the first revolutionary product to come out of simple light.

In 2015, Boeing, in partnership with HRL Laboratories, revealed the lightest metal in the world, created using a similar light-based manufacturing process. Using a UV light array projecting ordered rays into a polymer resin, Boeing and HRL created a micro-lattice structure that was electroplated with nickel. The polymer was then dissolved away with acid, revealing an ultralight, hollow metallic microlattice that was 99.99% air, lightweight enough to sit comfortably on a dandelion. However, this metal is not just any weak gimp. The lattice structure maintains the metal’s strength, allowing it strong elasticity and energy-absorption properties. Because of its ultralight and strong nature, the nickel micro-lattice can be incorporated in next-generation aircraft, making components that create the potential for large bounds in the search for fuel and waste efficiency.

The uses of the metal do not simply stop at creating ultralight and strong structural components. Applications by HRL of the micro-lattice’s energy absorption have been extended to use in football helmets for energy dissipation in collisions, providing progress on the issue of concussions, which have been threatening the game of football since people have become increasingly wary of the dangers of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Enough? No, the uses of these light-based structures have been further squeezed for even more applications. J. Bauer’s study of glassy carbon nanolattices demonstrated that pyrolysis can burn these structures into nanolattices that approach strengths that haven’t been seen before.
Using light-based methods to create these wonderful, little structures opens up the unimaginable ability to influence the structure’s architecture and nature for specific and tailored purposes. Creation through light will soon influence the development of aircraft, football helmets, and shoes with the possibilities being open to much, much more. It is just beginning. We will look aghast, amazed, confused, and a little overjoyed at the transformations caused by light-based manufacturing processes. Through it all, we will let our inner cavemen out, and be proud of it as we gaze at the true magnificence of light.

Hari Nanthakumar is a freshman in SEAS hoping to study materials science & engineering. A staff journalist for CSR, he enjoys spending his time watching random Netflix shows and occasionally venturing out into NYC.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Artificial Intelligence
    Halloween 2022
    Winter 2022-2023

    Archives

    April 2024
    January 2024
    February 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    June 2022
    January 2022
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    July 2009
    May 2009

Columbia Science Review
© COPYRIGHT 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Photos from driver Photographer, BrevisPhotography, digitalbob8, Rennett Stowe, Kristine Paulus, Tony Webster, CodonAUG, Tony Webster, spurekar, europeanspaceagency, Christoph Scholz, verchmarco, rockindave1, robynmack96, Homedust, The Nutrition Insider
  • Home
  • About
    • Our Team
  • Blog
  • Events
    • 2022-2023
    • 2021-2022
    • 2020-2021
    • 2019-2020
    • 2018-2019
    • 2017-2018
    • 2016-2017
  • Publications
  • COVID-19 Public Hub
    • Interviews >
      • Biology of COVID-19
      • Public Health
      • Technology & Data
    • Frontline Stories >
      • Healthcare Workers
      • Global Health
      • Volunteer Efforts
    • Resources & Links >
      • FAQ's
      • Resource Hubs
      • Student Opportunities
      • Podcasts & Graphics
      • Mental Health Resources
      • Twitter Feeds
      • BLM Resources
    • Columbia Events >
      • Campus Events
      • CUMC COVID-19 Symposium
      • CSR Events
    • Our Team
  • Contact