“West Japan Railway (JR West) on Wednesday built a station building that consists of parts made with 3D printer technology. The station building in Wakayama Prefecture is the world’s first to be built with 3D printer technology,” reports the Japan Times:
The building at Hatsushima Station in the city of Arida on the Kisei Line is some 2.6 meters high, with an area of about 10 square meters. The company aims to open it in July.
The building consists of four parts, including the roof and walls, which were produced by Japanese housing maker Serendix.
The formwork was formed using mortar with a 3D printer, and reinforcing steel was put in the hollow part and concrete was filled. The building has earthquake resistance similar to that of reinforced concrete houses.
The company undertook the construction after the end of daily train services and completed the work in about two and half hours, a considerably shorter length of time than conventional methods.
The cost for constructing the building is half that of using reinforced concrete…The company is considering using 3D printer technology in rebuilding other station buildings.
Last year, a patient was given a 3D-printed windpipe, using an organ shaped by a 3D-printer: “The patient’s new organ is built with cartilage and mucosal lining (the moist lining that you get in some of your organs and body cavities like your lungs and nose). The scientists obtained nasal stem cells and cartilage cells from other patients to create these elements – cells which were discarded during a procedure to treat nasal congestion and from a nasal septum surgery. But the 3D-printed windpipe also contains polycaprolactone (PCL) for structural support, as well as bio-ink. Rather than the ink you might see in your printer at home, bio-ink carries the living cells needed to create living tissue in 3D-bioprinting.”
Scientists are also working on turning spleens into functioning livers for people with liver damage.
