3D-Printing Crystallographic Unit Cells for Learning Materials Science and Engineering

• Philip P. Rodenbough ^[1] ; William B. Vanti ^[1] ; Siu-Wai Chan ^[1]
  1. [1] Columbia University

     Columbia University

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Journal of chemical education, ISSN 0021-9584, Vol. 92, Nº 11, 2015, págs. 1960-1962
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Introductory materials science and engineering courses universally include the study of crystal structure and unit cells, which are by their nature highly visual 3D concepts. Traditionally, such topics are explored with 2D drawings or perhaps a limited set of difficult-to-construct 3D models. The rise of 3D printing, coupled with the wealth of freely available crystallographic data online, offers an elegant solution to materials science visualization problems. Here, we report a concise and up-to-date method to easily and rapidly transform actual crystallography files to 3D models of diverse unit cells for use as instructional aids.