3D Printers

Carnegie Mellon Researcher Develops Finely 3D Printed ‘Hair’ from PLA

3D printing technology has allowed Makers and designers to produce almost any type of figurine, toy, or doll in immaculate detail, but, until now, we have yet to see a 3D printer capable of printing something as fine and delicate as a strand of hair or the bristles of a brush. But prepare to break out your brushes because one team of researchers from the Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Mellon University, led by PhD student Gierad Laput, have created a 3D printing process that manufactures delicate strands of plastic material. These 3D printed strands both feel and flow, according to the team, like an actual hair follicle, up to the point where it can be combed on the head of a doll or utilized as the bristles of a scrub brush.

3dprinting_hair

The technique doesn’t require any modifications in the 3D printer’s hardware either; in fact, the process is quite simple, yet extremely innovative. Laput and his team discovered that by extruding tiny dots of PLA at varied temperatures and quickly pulling the printer head away, the plastic material can be stretched into a hair-like material before it is fully cooled. The team set the parameters for the 3D printer’s specialized function using gCode, ensuring that the each strand was replicated precisely. The final product is perfectly fit for the 3D printed head of any doll or mane of any 3D printed horse, and will surely help 3D printed objects become even more materialistically life-like and practical.

“Surprisingly, with enough strands, the extruded strings actually feel like real hair!” said Laput. “I mean they are synthetic, but the printed strands feel like actual strands of hair…and because they feel like actual strands of hair, we can perform post-processing manipulations like cutting, curling, or even braiding.”

3dprinting_hair1

The Carnegie Mellon team’s research is open to be used by any designer or artist, which should definitely help spread this newly developed method throughout the Maker community. Laput isn’t stopping at human hair follicles and brush bristles either; his future endeavors include improving the process even further in order to create intensely fine 3D printed fur and Velcro. He’d also like to implement human sensory experience and conductivity into the process, too, making this finely stringed plastic more interactive with our everyday lives. Although trying to 3D print at this level of detail was initially a hairy situation for Makers and designers, Laput and his team have solved the problem with this remarkably efficient and reliable printing process.