Light waves allow scientists to print in 3D with multiple materials

Today, most 3D printers using multiple materials use separate tanks. This new chemistry-based approach uses a single tank with two monomers (the molecules that are joined to create a substance printed in 3D). Then, ultraviolet or visible light is used to bind these monomers together. Depending on the light used, the final product will have different properties, such as stiffness. The researchers hope that this single-tank approach could be more practical than using multiple tanks of material.

This is not the first time researchers have used light to control 3D printing and this concept needs further refinement. For now, researchers have only managed to put hard materials next to soft materials. And it will take time before scientists know which monomers work together in the same tank, but they hope that a "multi-material 3D printing with wavelength control" will make it possible to achieve more complex objects .