Tech UPTechnologyTomorrow is imprinted with oranges

Tomorrow is imprinted with oranges

The Ohmie looks like a simple desk lamp , although it has a sinuous and original shape. Created by a Milanese studio, Krill, despite its unconventional appearance, could go unnoticed among the thousands of products that are presented each year at major industrial design fairs: one more lamp in a market saturated with options to choose from.

But there is something that makes it unique. Krill has manufactured it with a 3D printer that uses a biopolymer created from the skin of oranges as a work material . The process is somewhat complex, but in essence it consists of drying and crushing the skin, and then adding some compounds to it to give it the consistency and elastic properties of the plastic that is usually used in three-dimensional printing machines.

The result is a filament that is used like any other plastic filament for printing, but with which one hundred percent biodegradable objects can be created, and, if we pay attention to the designers, “with a soft aroma of orange or biscuit”. The thread is inserted into the 3D printer as it would be done with a conventional ABS plastic filament, and it is only necessary to press the print button to start making almost any type of object.

Ohmie is for sale on the Kickstarter web crowdfunding platform from 59 euros, a price 40% cheaper than the final product will have when it reaches the stores, and it boasts of being an almost entirely Italian lamp. The oranges with which the biopolymer is made, after all, come from Sicily. The only thing that has not been manufactured locally are the electrical and electronic modules (the power cable, the LED lamp …), which can be easily disassembled to better recycle the product.

The biopolymer created from orange peel is an example of the type of materials that in the coming years promise to revolutionize three-dimensional printing and finally make that dream of having a machine at home capable of manufacturing all kinds of objects come true.

The 3D printing market has an annual turnover of more than 10 billion euros , but it goes through what in the jargon of technology marketing is called the valley of disillusionment: it is the period in which a technology that enjoyed a great initial popularity loses some relevance due to the adjustment of expectations, before consolidating. After years of hearing that 3D printing was going to star in an imminent revolution, companies and consumers have adjusted their perspectives: it has a bright future, but it is still in a phase of experimentation and search for business models that will make it possible. And that takes time. Even so, its market is expected to grow close to 20% per year for the next seven years .

Despite its status as a developing technology, 3D printing has already changed many of the industrial design processes, for example in the manufacture of vehicles or medical prosthetics . Before it was necessary to make detailed models by hand to create the molds that would be used in the different final pieces. Now it only takes a few hours to get a perfectly functional prototype for the same task.

Some sports shoe companies have started using this technique even in certain stages of final production. Adidas, for example, has teamed up with 3D printing company Carbon to create printed soles for its 4DFWD sneakers . The soles have a mesh structure that would be very complex to mold using plastic injection, and they give the footwear great cushioning, with a much lower weight than it would have if a conventional solid rubber or air chamber system were used. Another sports accessories brand, Voronoi, has created a cycling helmet that also takes advantage of a 3D printed mesh structure to achieve the same protection as a solid helmet, but with a much lighter design.

In any case, the final large-scale production of most objects continues to be cheaper if conventional manufacturing techniques are used, such as plastic injection or metal block milling. But 3D printing machines, especially in industrial settings, are getting faster and more accurate, and the final push could come with new materials that will make it possible to manufacture more durable objects, especially with the affordable models of 3D printers that are coming to the market. homes.

Some of these equipment designed for industrial applications are already capable of printing objects with materials such as concrete, ceramic or metal, but until now, most 3D printers destined for the domestic environment use plastic filaments . Other more advanced models can bet on resins cured with light, a process that hardens them. Although the results are acceptable for many uses, especially if the goal is to create decorative objects or pieces that are only to be used as a mold, prints are often relatively fragile and do not age well . New filaments of more exotic materials will soon allow more complex creations suitable for all kinds of situations. Several companies already work with filaments made of stone, ceramic, metal or biomaterials, such as orange peel, with which the resulting objects achieve mechanical properties similar to those obtained with conventional manufacturing techniques.

It is expected that in 2028, the market for this type of materials alone will move around 7.5 billion euros worldwide. The most important thing, in any case, is that they will open the door to create objects that are impossible even for the current mass production structure, such as personalized medical implants or, why not, lamps and furniture like Ohmie, completely biodegradable to make it easier. Get rid of them when it’s time to change your home decor.

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