What engineering student worth his or her salt wouldn't want to print things out? Salt may be a stretch, but foundry sand is one of the materials employed in 3-D printing at Virginia Tech. So are metals, ceramics, polymers and more, Christopher Williams of the College of Engineering says.

"What really sets Virginia Tech apart in the area of additive manufacturing, more commonly referred to as 3-D printing, is that we have a wide array of technologies that really allows us to print any type of material," he says. This has generated some unique requests from industry, he says.

Williams is director of the Design, Research, and Education for Additive Manufacturing Systems (DREAMS) Laboratory and the co-director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Innovation-based Manufacturing.

Learn more about the research in this news video:

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