{"id":216,"date":"2018-10-19T20:41:22","date_gmt":"2018-10-19T20:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/?p=216"},"modified":"2018-10-29T19:47:50","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T19:47:50","slug":"engineering-flawless-3d-printing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/engineering-flawless-3d-printing\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineering Flawless 3D Printing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Nebraska engineer Prahalada Rao envisions 3D printing no less than revolutionizing the world. But first the process must overcome a tendency to create flaws. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople call it \u2018print and go.\u2019 I call it \u2018print and pray,\u2019\u201d said Rao, assistant professor of mechanical and materials engineering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To produce flawless items every time, Rao is improving the 3D printing process, officially known as smart additive manufacturing. He\u2019s supported by a five-year, $500,000 Faculty Early Career Development Program award from the National Science Foundation, the prestigious award given to outstanding pre-tenure faculty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"966\" src=\"http:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/180319_Rao_013-SM.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/180319_Rao_013-SM.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/180319_Rao_013-SM-300x181.jpg 300w, https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/180319_Rao_013-SM-768x464.jpg 768w, https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/180319_Rao_013-SM-1024x618.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/180319_Rao_013-SM-1200x725.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><figcaption>Prahalada Rao<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Additive manufacturing is adept at creating complex parts from various materials, such as plastics and metals, quickly and with little waste. But its significant failure rate excludes mass production when safety is paramount. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Working with titanium and other high-performance materials, Rao is developing algorithms that detect flaws during the printing process and automatically correct them. The technique requires adding sensors to a specialized 3D printer that both adds and subtracts material. Three such hybrid printers are uniquely available at the university. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rao\u2019s technique could transform numerous manufacturing industries, from airplane parts to customized replacement knees. The military could one day 3D print a tank\u2019s replacement part and quickly send it back into service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNebraska is positioning itself as a hub for additive manufacturing in a variety of industries, including agricultural equipment, defense manufacturing and biomedical,\u201d Rao said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-embed-aspect-16-9\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sQ8p_kLIK4w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nebraska engineer Prahalada Rao envisions 3D printing no less than revolutionizing the world. But first the process must overcome a tendency to create flaws. \u201cPeople call it \u2018print and go.\u2019 I call it \u2018print and pray,\u2019\u201d said Rao, assistant professor of mechanical and materials engineering. To produce flawless items every time, Rao is improving the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,154],"tags":[58,40,160,51,159,45,161],"class_list":["post-216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-career","category-engineering","tag-career-award","tag-engineering","tag-materials-science","tag-national-science-foundation","tag-prahalada-rao","tag-sensors","tag-smart-additive-manufacturing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":414,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216\/revisions\/414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}