Declan Vakaj, 11, at the 3D/4D printing interactive workshop. Photo / Andrew Warner
Declan Vakaj, 11, at the 3D/4D printing interactive workshop. Photo / Andrew Warner
There was a fun day of interactive learning for a number of local children these April school holidays as they stepped into and explored the world of 3D and 4D printing.
A colour-changing and flexible 4D printing filament - known as ‘Morph’ - has hit the market following a successful research collaboration between Auckland filament manufacturer Imagin Plastics and Crown Research Institute Scion.
Three-dimensional printing enthusiasts will be able to use the filament to create fun and flexible objects, including bath toys, that change colour with heat. The product is believed to be the only flexible filament of its kind in New Zealand.
Now Morph is on the market, Scion is also using it for community education.
As part of the Rotorua Library’s school holidays programme, Scion held a 3D and 4D printing interactive workshop at the library on Wednesday to introduce young people aged 11 and over to the new filament and the world of 3D/4D printing.
Scion’s Morph development team scientist Dr Angel Greene says they wanted to give back to the community and provide young people with an opportunity to interact with this cool new product.
She says with a large STEM population here in Rotorua it was great and important to help kids explore science and engineering.
Angel says throughout the workshop the kids learnt the likes of how to set up 3D printers, how to build 3D models, how to slice those 3D models, what g-code is and how to initiate printing, and learning about 4D printing.
Kids learning about 3D and 4D printing at Scion's interactive workshop. Photo / Andrew Warner
The kids were able to take home some of the prints and there is a Morph challenge they can take part in post-workshop if they choose.
She says this challenge was having two weeks to design a model on the free web app Tinkercad, and the best design submitted gets to visit Scion to print their design and tour its 3D printing lab.
Declan Vakaj, 11, was one of the young people attending the workshop.
He said seeing the printing machines and models was interesting, and he had gone along as he wanted to learn more about 3D printing.
“It’s a great thing to do in the school holidays ... I’ve come today to see how it works.”
He says he attends Rotorua Intermediate and has a science pathway in the upcoming term which he is looking forward to.
Ben Blakley, sales and technical manager at Imagin Plastics, says they were happy to be at the workshop supporting Scion.
He says Imagin Plastics has been working with Scion on projects for seven to eight years and they are very excited to support Scion in a community education space, which is a new thing for Imagin Plastics.
The concept of 4D printing is similar to 3D, where both print three-dimensional objects (using length, width and height), but 4D also features an added dimension which changes over time. In Morph’s case, its thermochromic properties mean it changes colour with temperature.
Morph is made from a flexible biodegradable polyester. During its development, Scion scientists successfully printed a number of objects, including phone cases, animals such as a gecko and an octopus, and moveable objects like stretchy bracelets.
