A team of engineers from the University of Bristol have developed a new hybrid type of 3D printing that can both assemble and print with composite materials using a combination of desktop 3D printer technology, light-curable resins and ultrasonic waves. The process exposes a light-cured resin material combined with millions of micro-scale glass fibers to ultrasonic fields produced by a pair of transducers. The ultrasonic waves create a forcefield that will organize the glass fibers into the desired structure. Once the structures are complete the resin material will then be hardened using a very tightly focused laser beam. This new composite material 3D printing process also offers the ability to make entirely new composite patterns that can’t be manufactured using traditional methods. You can read more about this amazing new 3D printing process over on 3DPrint.com.