Beer!
Every beer drinker has an opinion on flat (stale?) beer, most of them are negative.
A specific 3D-lasered-structure on the bottom of the reusable beercup promotes the foaming of beer.
Inspiration: Namibian Desert Beetle.
Foaming record: 30 minutes.
Colours
Think about a rainbow. All those beautiful colours in the sky.​
Now think about it again and realize that there are no real colours in the sky, it is lightrays refracting in waterdroplets. Which makes a rainbow nature's optical illusion.
​
Chameleons use a similar trickery to 'change' colour. And if you have blue eyes, you do to. The pigment blue can't be found in any animal, from blue eyes to a beetle, peacock or kingfisher; all trickery.
​
Lasers can do this too! See here an example on stainless steel, the colours 'sparkle' a bit. Just like a peacock.
Water-repellent
nanostructures
See to droplet bouncing off a lasered stainless steel plate, how cool is that! The structure is inspired by bird-feathers and is, what scientist call, super-water-repellent.
​
The dark grey square has a lasered structure, the rest plain stainless steel, angled at 45 degrees. Filmed in slow-motion, bouncing droplets go very fast!
​
Perhaps this can one day help keep your electronics dry, or keep your showerdrain unclogged!
Bacteria killing-
butterfly wings
Butterflies and cicade's wings have a surface structure that repels and kills bacteria. Nanometer-scale hair-like needles can be replicated by lasers.
MRSA-bacteria
Tested on 316 Stainless Steel and Titanium
Tested by dr. ir. Martin Bennink | Hogeschool Saxion
Surface polishing
Not every surface needs to be smooth, but 3D-prints (SLS and FDM) are always rough.
Tumblers and sanding can help, but reduce the part's dimentional accuracy.
Over 90% smoother, picture was meassured from an Ra>20 to Ra<2.
Hardness has not been altered.
Proven on (a.o.) nylon, PLA, hardend steel.
Sharp knives.
No one likes a dull knife and the top one has clearly seen some (ab)use. Magnify even further and you see bumps and rigids resembling a 3D-print. Which a laser was able to polish, so why not give it a try?
The result is a razorsharp knife. Despite being one of the cheapest in the drawer, never experiment with the items you daily use, it cuts like there is no tomorrow.
