First Ever: Printed Product as Huge as its Printer
The University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center is a world-leading, interdisciplinary center for research, education, and economic development encompassing material sciences, manufacturing, and the engineering of composites and structures. It’s a sprawling 100,000 ft2 ISO 17025- accredited testing laboratory with more than 220 personnel. Just recently, the center set three world records for the Guinness Book of Records in one fell swoop.
The records are for the world’s largest prototype polymer 3D printer, the largest solid 3D-printed object, and the largest 3D-printed boat.
The new 3D printer is designed to print objects as long as 100 feet by 22 feet wide by 10 feet high, and can print at 500 pounds per hour. It’s a one-of-a-kind printer that will support some ambitious initiatives, including development of biobased feedstocks using cellulose derived from wood resources, and rapid prototyping of civilian, defense and infrastructure applications. The big 3D printer was precisely to make use of Maine’s most bountiful resource – wood – being the most forested state in the US. The printer has both additive and precise subtractive manufacturing capabilities, to enable rapid prototyping for both defense and civilian applications.
With the world’s largest prototype polymer 3D printer, UMaine team built the world’s largest 3D- printed boat, which also happened to be the world’s largest solid 3D-printed object – all in 72 hours. It was unveiled in the presence of Guinness World Records officials. The boat is a 25-foot-long, 5,000- pound ship, called 3Dirigo, featuring a multidirectional wave basin and a high-performance wind machine.
The university plans to use the massive printer for other endeavors especially benefiting the state of Maine as well as beyond. It works with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for groundbreaking innovations in rapidly deployable, low-logistics infrastructure systems such as a 76-foot-long composites bridge girder, printing with 50% wood products at 500 pounds per hour, achieving properties similar to aluminum, strengthen research and economic development efforts that support Maine industries, foster business formation and expansion, and mentor students working across disciplines.
