When it comes to 3D printing, the sky is the limit. As 3D printing technology continues to advance, applications can be as far reaching as airplane and automobile parts to medical devices and even anatomically correct, biocompatible models. Although 3D printing technology is developing at a rapid pace, the technology itself is not new. It emerged in the 1980s as a means of creating rapid prototypes. In recent years the applications for 3D printed models have evolved with the available hardware, software, and printable materials. Evolving technology, paired with the creative and innovative minds of scientists, engineers, and physicians, has been the launching pad for developments within 3D printing technology specific to healthcare. One way 3D printing technology is poised to create better patient outcomes is in creating an anatomically and patient-specific models to aid in surgery and medical procedures. With the capability to 3D ...
When the new 2013 Ford Escape goes on sale next spring, it will come standard with old clothing and used plastic drink bottles inside. That is, the new model is packed with the greatest amount of sustainable materials of any Ford to date — and the materials are safe, according to company testing.
Ford, along with other car makers, including Toyota, General Motors, and Hyundai, are on the sustainability train. Each company eschews landfilling when possible, and has incorporated various kinds of sustainable and recycled materials into their vehicles.
Bradford Wernle reports in Plastics News:
The carpets of each 2013 Escape will contain about 25 20-ounce PET plastic beverage bottles. Ford expects to keep about 4 million bottles out of landfills annually.The interior of the new Escape also contains a number of other sustainable materials including soy in the seat cushions and fiber from the kenaf plant used in the door inserts.Altogether, 27 percent of the seat fabric comes from ‘post-industrial recycled content.’
In addition:
Dash insulation includes more than 10 pounds of scrap cotton from jeans, sweaters, T-shirts and other items. The climate control gasket is made from recycled tires. The shields under the engine and transmission contain recycled plastics.
Ford has experimented with various materials over the past several years, with varying success. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina shut down a resin supplier’s plant, the company tried using recycled fabric softener bottles. However, as Laura Sinclair, a materials engineer for Ford, told Plastics News, “the company quickly learned that ‘if we’d put those in vehicles it would have smelled like you were doing laundry.’”
Ford is confident that using the newer recycled materials will not compromise safety. Sinclair told Werner that “all these recycled products have been tested so rigorously that they meet the standard of virgin materials.”
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