Consider a world where you dent your car in an acci­dent and, instead of heading to the body shop, you find a local 3-D printer. With the right specs, they print you a new panel. Mightsound far fetched, but Michael Hickner, the new co-director of Penn State’s Center for Innovative Materials Processing through Direct Digital Deposition (CIMP- 3D) believes we’re almost there.

“Imagine printing a new part for your car, new brac­es, a new orthotic or even a new prosthesis or arm. 3-D printing allows us to bring manufacturing into smaller, more distributed spaces. With high-grade polymer parts, we can print really useful things,” he says.

For Hickner, the road to CIMP-3D and his study of polymer science started back in high school. “I owe everything to my first chemistry and polymers teachers,” he says. “Chemistry class in high school is what did it for me. I had a fantastic teacher in a small town and my passion for chemistry was ignited. It just made sense and was so interesting.”

That initial excitement is still present when Hickner talks about how his work will impact the future. “What if we had screens that we could roll up and put in our pocket? Or a solar cell that we could paint onto the side of a building? Or a bottle that turns into fertilizer right after we use it? Plastics can make all of these things possible,” he says.

CIMP-3D has always been strong in metal additives, perhaps the strongest academ­ically-oriented lab, in partnership with the Department of Defense, according to Hickner; but with his expertise and the expertise of co-director Tim Simpson and director Rich Martukanitz, the lab is beginning to integrate polymers and composites into their research resume, and expand into the arenas of plastics, composites and polymer science.

Hickner feels this expansion is needed to remain on the cutting edge of the industry. “Polymers and polymer composites are incredibly useful materials,” he notes. “The demand for polymers and composites in high-value applications is increasing. CIMP-3D needs to be in this space, so my job is to build a strong polymer and composites group within CIMP-3D to complement their reputation in metal additives.”

The impact that polymer science could have on auto­mobile and aerospace manufacturing specifically interests Hickner. “Imagine cars with 100 miles-per-gallon fuel economy. We can probably get there with batteries and hybrids, but we can also get there with lighter automo­biles. Light-weighting is a huge issue and will improve the fuel economy of cars and airplanes through the use of light polymer and composite parts — compared to metal and glass that we currently use.”

Hickner believes Innovation Park provides CIMP-3D the opportunity to be a big influencer moving forward.

“CIMP-3D is a game changer in additive manufacturing and Innovation Park gives us the space to expand. We can do things at a larger scale to demonstrate new technology that is created at CIMP-3D or on cam­pus. We can also bring in companies and demonstrate ‘big’ technology at Innovation Park. That is difficult to do on [the] central campus...I think we will see growing industrial activity nucleating around CIMP- 3D because access is so good at Innovation Park,” he notes.

When asked about his future as the new co-director of CIMP-3D, Hickner is most interested in contributing to Penn State and Innovation Park's reputation of excellence in research. “I’m not really interested in my own legacy,” he says. “I only want to invest in things that are real and interesting and will move the ball forward in great science and engi­neering. That is my goal.”