Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, N.Y., announces that it has been chosen to lead a consortium of universities and corporations in establishing a New York State Center for advanced technology in additive manufacturing and functional printing. The award is $921,000 per year for the center, with annual renewal for up to ten years, subject to annual performance evaluations.
These focus areas are the key in the market growth in functional 3D printing—improvements to print equipment, new nano-ink materials development, and applications for products built using functional 3D-print technologies. RIT has made significant inroads into training both its students and industry professionals in using functional 3D-printing technologies. The lab partnerships also have expanded to include capabilities in chemical processing, new materials development, and expanded prototyping work for startup companies.
The center, to be called the AMPrint Center for Advanced Technology, will be based at RIT. Its focus will be to conduct research and development in 3D printing and additive manufacturing—an industry seen as a key economic driver for the Finger Lakes region and New York state because of its application to a wide range of companies and products.
Denis Cormier, RIT’s Earl W. Brinkman Professor and a national expert on 3D printing and additive manufacturing, will lead the AMPrint Center. The consortium’s university partners include RIT, Clarkson University, and SUNY New Paltz. Corporate partners include Xerox Corp., GE Research, Corning Inc., Eastman Kodak, and MakerBot. Smaller regional companies will also collaborate with the center.
Research partners in the consortium will develop next-generation polymer, metal, and composite technologies, and will use the new facility to synthesize advanced functional materials, develop additive manufacturing technologies, and design novel devices using the new materials and technologies.
Each of the partners brings unique capabilities to the consortium in areas such as printable nano-inks and devices that use these inks. RIT’s has a pulsed photonic curing system capable of fusing the inks into solid form through thermal processing that makes the materials and devices operational. The advanced curing system for printed materials can thermally process and fuse high-temperature metals and ceramics onto low-temperature paper or plastic. These are the foundational materials being used for flexible electronics, considered a targeted growth market for New York state.
