TECHNOLOGY/BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY Electromagnet-SLA Printer

Opportunity:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS), LLC under contract no. DE-AC52-07NA27344 (Contract 44) with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is offering the opportunity to enter into a collaboration to further develop and commercialize its electromagnet-SLA printer.

Background:

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are “smart” materials that have the ability to change their shape or orientation in response to external stimuli such as temperature, light, or mechanical stress.  This unique combination of properties makes LCEs suitable for a wide range of applications in diverse industries including aerospace, automotive, electronics, and biomedical.  Manufacturing LCEs requires the ability to magnetically manufacture complex structures with programmable material alignment in 3D space. 

Description:

This LLNL invention is capable of generating, on-the-fly, tunable magnetic field strengths with voxel-by-voxel alignment.  The approach is to use a custom designed Halbach array consisting of permanent magnets or electromagnets to provide a uniform magnetic field in any direction.  This Halbach array will then be coupled with a stereolithography (SLA) printer so that locally aligned regions can be “locked into” place by curing during 3D printing.  A key feature of this invention is the ability to generate relatively large magnetic field strengths (<100 mT) in arbitrary directions; this enables alignment on smaller scales than previously possible.

Advantages/Benefits: 

• Value Proposition:  Increased performance to enable a bigger market
• Tunable magnetic field strength
• Varying directions of magnetic field

Potential Applications: 

• Reversible and repeatable 3D-to-3D shape change
• Tunable stiffness architectures
• Cellular fluidics
• Light-weight, high-strength applications

Development Status: 

Current stage of technology development:  TRL 3

LLNL has filed for patent protection on this invention.

LLNL is seeking industry partners with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Moving critical technology beyond the Laboratory to the commercial world helps our licensees gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. All licensing activities are conducted under policies relating to the strict nondisclosure of company proprietary information. 

Please visit the IPO website at https://ipo.llnl.gov/resources for more information on working with LLNL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process.

Note:  THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT.  Companies interested in commercializing LLNL's electromagnet-SLA printer should provide an electronic OR written statement of interest, which includes the following:

1. Company Name and address.
2. The name, address, and telephone number of a point of contact.
3. A description of corporate expertise and/or facilities relevant to commercializing this technology.

Please provide a complete electronic OR written statement to ensure consideration of your interest in LLNL's electromagnet SLA printer.

The subject heading in an email response should include the Notice ID and/or the title of LLNL’s Technology/Business Opportunity and directed to the Primary and Secondary Point of Contacts listed below.

Written responses should be directed to:

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Innovation and Partnerships Office

P.O. Box 808, L-779

Livermore, CA  94551-0808

Attention:   IL-1391