---
title: "Amsterdam researchers print angled ice structures without support material"
url: https://www.voxelmatters.com/amsterdam-researchers-print-angled-ice-structures-without-support-material/
date: 2026-09-04
modified: 2026-09-04
lang: en
author: "Joseph Caron-Dawe"
description: "Physicists at the University of Amsterdam have 3D printed ice structures at angles steep enough to form overhangs, removing the need for support material beneath them. The team found that..."
categories:
  - "3D Printing Processes"
  - "Research & Education"
tags:
  - "future"
image: https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/3D-printed-ice-structures-01-640x400.jpg
word_count: 204
---

# Amsterdam researchers print angled ice structures without support material

Physicists at the University of Amsterdam have [3D printed ice structures](https://www.voxelmatters.com/us-army-scientists-3d-print-using-ice-reinforced-with-natural-fibers/) at angles steep enough to form overhangs, removing the need for support material beneath them.

![Amsterdam researchers print angled ice structures without support material](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/3D-printed-ice-structures-02-328x340.jpg)

The team found that changing the speed of the print head controlled the angle at which an ice pillar grew, and that the resulting profiles held at angles as shallow as 14 degrees from the surface. That range widened the geometries the process could produce beyond the vertical columns of the earlier demonstration.

The method used evaporative cooling, the same mechanism that regulates body temperature through perspiration. Inside a vacuum chamber held at room temperature, water molecules evaporated quickly, each one removing heat from the liquid left behind. 

The remaining water became supercooled below its freezing point while staying fluid. A water jet 16 micrometers across then made contact with the existing ice layer, at which point it froze on contact.

[The authors of the study](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2608173123) reported uses beyond the decorative pieces initially produced. Ice can act as a scaffold for growing biological tissue, and melting a printed ice structure embedded in another material leaves microfluidic channels behind. 

The researchers also pointed to Mars, where a thin atmosphere and low temperatures approximate the conditions inside the vacuum chamber.