Timothy Scott
veski innovation fellow
Monash University
Associate Professor Timothy Scott was awarded a 3-year veski innovation fellowship in November 2019.
Associate Professor Scott returned from the College of Engineering at Michigan University, USA, to take up his position as a senior member of the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Monash University.
Research project: Multi-Colour Irradiation Systems for Ultra-Rapid Additive Manufacturing
Three-dimensional printing is a cutting-edge technology proving to be tremendously useful during the design and prototype stages of industrial production. Also known as additive manufacturing (AM), the worldwide market has grown by up to 30 per cent per year over the past decade, with revenues from services and products totalling more than USD$7.3 billion in 2017.
Despite this growth, for 3D printing to truly disrupt global manufacturing its speed must dramatically increase. Timothy has developed an ultra-rapid method of 3D printing. This breakthrough technology is ‘one of the first true 3D printers’ that uses two beams of light, and light-sensitive resin, to enable high speed, continuous production. The biggest potential of this technology will be in the agile manufacturing of low to moderate volume parts quickly and inexpensively.
Timothy’s research focus on increasing fabrication rates of the production of polymeric and composite objects will boost Victoria’s startup community and entrepreneurial culture. This breakthrough technology and research will provide extensive entrepreneurial opportunities for scientists and engineers in the rapidly expanding and locally-relevant industry.
The commercial potential of distributed manufacturing that is facilitated by this advance in 3D printing will also support local industry and economic growth through training, jobs, and apprenticeships. There are also significant environmental and public health benefits enabled by reducing transportation emissions and energy consumption related to offshore production.
This will fundamentally transform AM processes and provide a value proposition for a wider range of potential customers.
The real benefit of increasing fabrication rates is the transition from prototyping, making one offs, to actually going into production.
Associate Professor Timothy Scott