News is circulating about a novel method for 3D printing liquid metals that was developed by researchers working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Self-Assembly Lab.

The invention can print furniture-sized components using molten aluminum and a ceramic nozzle graphite printer. They say their discovery works without re-melting the recycled materials, as is the case with many current technologies. It resembles a small furnace into which book-sized blocks of the material are fed. The technique, called liquid metal printing (LMP), creates material that is durable enough to withstand CNC milling and other steps in the post-design delivery process.

The hope now is to refine the technique to allow for more consistent and higher-resolution prints. Such rapid and deployable solutions could become an attractive choice for architectural designers looking to scale up development and building projects in the future.

Former Architectural League Prize winner, associate professor in the Department of Architecture, and co-director of the Self-Assembly Lab Skylar Tibbits was the study’s lead author. He says the team’s work expands on a similar previous innovation in the production of 3D printed rubber components, adding that aluminum was chosen because of its abundance and the relative efficiency at which it can be recycled.

“The liquid metal printing really walks the line in terms of ability to produce metal parts in custom geometries while maintaining quick turnaround that you don’t normally get in other printing or forming technologies. There is definitely potential for the technology to revolutionize the way metal printing and metal forming are currently handled,” Jaye Buchbinder, a business development lead for the furniture maker Emeco, told MIT News of the Lab's LMP technology.

Image credit: MIT Self-Assembly Lab

Researchers Kimball Kaiser, Jeremy Bilotti, Bjorn Sparrman, Schendy Kernizan, and Maria Esteban Casanas were also contributors to the project. You can discover more about the MIT Self-Assembly Lab team's findings here.