Printing in 3D chocolate
20 Jul 2011 by Evoluted New Media
Chocolate might be an unusual material to print with, but consumers will soon be able create their own three dimensional designs in chocolate form.
Chocolate might be an unusual material to print with, but consumers will soon be able create their own three dimensional designs in chocolate form.
Using new digital technology, it’s possible to create a custom design on a computer and then watch the printer physically reproduce the image as a 3D chocolate. But the technology could be used for much more that chocolate – consumers could design many different products themselves, tailor-made to their needs and preferences.
“What makes this technology special is that users will be able to design and make their own products,” said researcher leader, Dr Liang Hao from the University of Exeter.
“In the long term it could be developed to help consumers custom-design many products from different materials, but we’ve started with chocolate as it is readily available, low cost and non-hazardous. There’s also no wastage as any unused or spoiled material can be eaten of course!”
The technology creates a 3D object by building up successive layers of material and is already used in the plastics and metal industry, but this is the first time the principles have been applied to chocolate – a challenging material to work with.
Chocolate requires accurate heating and cooling cycles, which need to be integrated with the correct flow rates for the printing process. Researchers overcame these difficulties by developing a new temperature and heating control system.
“From reproducing the shape of a child’s favourite toy to a friend’s face, the possibilities are endless and only limited by our creativity,” Hao said. “In future this kind of technology will allow people to produce and design many other products such as jewellery or household goods. Eventually we may see many mass produced products replaced by unique designs created by the customer.”
A consumer-friendly interface to design chocolate objects is in development and researchers hope an online retail business will host a website for users to upload their designs for printing and delivery.
The project – which also includes researchers from the University of Brunel and software developer Delcam – was managed by the EPSRC as part of the Research Council UK Cross- Research Council program – Digital Economy.
See the printer in action at www.youtube.com/labnews. World’s first chocolate printer is under LabNews Recommends.
