Event Date
Sound Printing and Recent Applications
Mohsen Habibi, Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UC Davis
Abstract
Sound Printing is an emerging manufacturing paradigm that harnesses structured acoustic fields to spatially and temporally control material transformation without physical contact. In this talk, I will present recent advances in Direct Sound Printing (DSP) and its extensions, highlighting how high-frequency ultrasound can localize polymerization, induce mechanical activation, and enable volumetric fabrication with sub-millimeter precision. We will discuss new strategies for acoustic field engineering, including holographic phase control and spatiotemporal pressure modulation, that improve energy confinement and printing resolution. Recent progress in sono-responsive inks, such as radical-mediated polymer systems, mechanochemically activated formulations, and multi-component bioinks, will be introduced, emphasizing tunable gelation kinetics and mechanical properties. The talk will also cover minimally invasive and remote printing concepts, where acoustic energy propagates through heterogeneous media to trigger in situ material formation. Applications in bone regeneration, soft tissue scaffolding, and embedded repair in confined environments will be presented, along with experimental validation and modeling insights that link acoustic pressure distributions to material conversion thresholds. Finally, I will outline current challenges in scalability, acoustic-material coupling efficiency, and regulatory translation, and discuss future directions toward high-resolution, adaptive, and in vivo sound-enabled manufacturing platforms.
Bio
Habibi is the principal investigator of UC Davis Advanced Manufacturing Lab (AML). His research has centered on Additive Manufacturing (AM) and Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM). He invented a method in additive manufacturing known as Direct Sound Printing (DSP), ultrasound based method to print via sono and thermo-chemistry. DSP received many awards including top 10 discoveries of 2022 by Quebec Science magazine, NSF Blue Sky competition and David Dornfeld Manufacturing Vision Award. Moreover, this publication achieved the 99th percentile among articles of a similar age across all journals (Altmetric). Before joining UC Davis, he was a senior manufacturing engineer for General Motors and a mechanical designer at the space technology company, MDA. In academia, he was a research associate at Concordia University in Canada and later, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of British Columbia and collaborated with companies such as GM, Pratt & Whitney, Gleason and MAL Inc. Throughout his career, he has published 5 patents and more than 20 peer-reviewed academic papers in advanced manufacturing field.