Quick as a blink: Chinese scientists unveil 3D printing in under a second

South China Morning Post · Feb 26, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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Chinese scientists have developed a new technique that solidifies liquid into three-dimensional objects in under a second, making for the world’s fastest 3D printing.3D printing is no longer a novel concept – whether it is tech enthusiasts creating digital objects, metal printing conducted in space, customised bone structures for patients or even military units using 3D-printed parts for weapon repairs.However, these technologies still rely on mechanical scanning by a printing nozzle, building objects layer by layer over minutes or even hours. In some cases, improving precision slows down the process.This month, a team of Chinese scientists from Tsinghua University unveiled a new approach.They placed the printing material inside a transparent container and, with the flip of a switch, transformed it into a solid structure in less than a second using a holographic projection.This method, somewhere between carving and printing, achieved both high speed and high precision, printing millimetre-scale components in just 0.6 seconds.