3D Printing Technology Applications

This assignment delves into the wide-ranging applications of 3D printing technology across multiple disciplines. It examines how 3D printing is revolutionizing fields like medicine (e.g., creating prosthetics and vascular channels), engineering (e.g., designing lightweight aircraft components and visualizing complex rock structures), and education (e.g., producing anatomical models). The papers also discuss the potential of 3D printing in personalized organ development and DNA biosensing.

Running head: 3D PRINTING
3D Printing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive summary
The study has described the 3D printing as the additive manufacturing. It has discussed whether
it has been suited better for the high or low volumes of production. Then the situations of its
value are demonstrated along with the forecasts on 3D printing. Lastly it answers the way in
which 3D printing could make the traditional manufacturing outdated along with it effects.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
1. 3D Printing as Additive Manufacturing:.....................................................................................2
2. 3D printing for high or low volumes of production:...................................................................5
3. Situations where 3D printing is most valuable:..........................................................................6
4. The forecast by the leading research and the investment firms for the 3D printing:...................6
5. How 3D printing has been making traditional manufacturing obsolete:.....................................7
Conclusion and recommendations:..................................................................................................8
References:......................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction:
In this new world of technology the 3D printing has travelled from theoretical to reality.
They have turned cheaper in production and various models have been available for sale along
with designing of products. Moreover they have been becoming common in the home.
The report demonstrates the 3D printing as the additive manufacturing. It analyses
whether it has been suited better for the high or low volumes of production. The situations of its
value are analyzed along with the forecasts on 3D printing. Lastly it answers the way in which
3D printing could make the conventional manufacturing outdated along with it effects.
1. 3D Printing as Additive Manufacturing:
3D printing is more appropriately called as an additive manufacturing as it is a process
that can be applicable for creating 3D objects from digital files. 3D objects can only be created
using additive processes that includes layering of successive layers of materials until the object is
considered to be fully created. These successive layers can be seen as very thin slices of cross-
section of the eventual objects (Weller, Kleer & Piller, 2015). It does not follows the subtracting
manufacturing that includes hollowing out or cutting out materials from a complete piece of the
plastic or metal substances through milling machine. ASTM (American Society for Testing and
Materials) introduced Additive Manufacturing and led to the development of seven standards
that could be helpful in classifying Additive Manufacturing processes into seven categories.

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Those processes can be listed as:
Vat Photo-Polymerization:
Figure 1: Vat Photo-Polymerization schematics
(Source: lboro.ac.uk)
The above picture is a clear representation of workings of Vat Photo-Polymerization in
which container is filled with photopolymer resin, after that it is being hardened through using
UV light source (Campbell et al., 2011). There are three other processed involved in this process
that could be corrective justification for representing it as an additive manufacturing that
includes (CLIP) Continuous Liquid Interface Production, DLP (Digital Light Processing), and
SLA (Stereolithography)
Material Jetting:
The basic working of this printer is similar to the inkjet paper printer in which material is
being applied through a nozzle of small diameter, the only difference is that it is being applied

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layer-by-layer in manner to build a platform to make a 3D object and after that it is being
hardened by the UV lights.
Material Extrusion:
There are three technologies FDM, FFF, and Contour crafting that are involved in this
section and this is also used to add materials and create the objects that can be represented as an
evidence for its additive
Sheet Lamination:
It involves materials into the sheets that are expected to be bounded with the external
forces.
Directed Energy Deposition:
Mostly used in manufacturing applications and high-tech metal industries. It deposits
metal powder on a surface and multi-axis robotic hand that is connected to the nozzles used to
create the object (McMenamin et al., 2014).
Powder Bed Fusion:
There are basically two additive processes that are being used under this section for the
creation of a 3D object that includes DMLS (Direct Metal Laser Sintering), and SLS (Selective
Laser Sintering).

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Binder Jetting:
Liquid binder and powder base material are being used within this model creation in
which as shown in the figure in the chamber in which powder is spread equally and glue is used
to strengthen the object.
2. 3D printing for high or low volumes of production:
The conventional processes like the injection molding have been utilized more for the
wide scale manufacturing. It has been more costly for the low volumes. Hence it is best suited
for the high volumes of productions. It has been reshaping the product manufacturing and
development (Xing, Zheng & Duan, 2015). Through using the process of 3D printing, the
engineers and designers are able to save money. As it saves time, it is regarded to be invaluable
presenting the scopes to create the highly accurate model of how the new product has been
looking.
For the low volume manufacturers, the most costly and the labor intensive portion of the
product development has been the tooling production. The 3D printers are able to remove the
expenses since it eradicates the necessity for tool production that has been cutting the labor and
the lead times.
For high volumes there have been various benefits that are inherent to the process. This
includes the capability of producing the custom parts with no cost of upfront virtually. Moreover
it is capable to produce shapes that ate impossible and uneconomical (Grice et al. 2015).

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3. Situations where 3D printing is most valuable:
The situation where the 3D printing is regarded as the most valuable depends on how the
value is defined. The largest market for 3d printing currently in the consumer application has
been the hearing aids. The ear hearing aids are created through 3D printing. Further, the
customized hip implants have been a smaller application with the value of the market is high.
This is because they expenses per item has been larger.
Moreover, the plastic implants and the titanium implants have been possessing potentially
higher market. The other unrealized markets like the 3D printed cartilage have been about a
decade way for being commercialized (Lee et al., 2016). However the osteoarthritis has been one
of the leading reasons for disability in the world. The ability of 3D printing cartilage for
combating the disease has been a huge market in the sector of medicine with numerous patients
being helped every year.
The custom fit products have been an outstanding business project for those who have
been searching for 3D printing. The benefits of it over the conventional manufacturing have been
that it has been permitting every part to be fit in a customized way to the customers. It has been
providing better comfort with utility than the generic counterpart.
4. The forecast by the leading research and the investment firms for the 3D printing:
The respondents have been weighing in where the 3D printing for the product
development has been in the current place. The leading research and the investment firms have
been forecasting whether they have been investing in the in-house capabilities, outsourcing and
the reasons (Loo, Chua & Pumera, 2017). They have been also needing to occur for the 3D

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printing of the parts of the end-products for becoming the reality in large-scale. Lastly they have
been determining what materials have been of highest interest.
As any organization has been the committed user for the 3D printing, the outcomes have
been ensuring that the same path of the peers and facing various challenges for adoption. The
usage of security printing to the manufacture of products has been coming out as the current
competitive advantage (Ventola, 2014). However, the organizations have not been initiating the
investment fast to become the considerable disadvantage.
5. How 3D printing has been making traditional manufacturing obsolete:
There have been many ways in which the 3D printing has been changing the conventional
manufacturing outdated.
First of all, it has been enabling the continuous digital thread. The using of the 3D
printing of production has been transformative. It has been speeding up product design and
speeding up the business (Radenkovic, Solouk & Seifalian, 2016). Moreover it has been offering
the grater design freedom and the spur innovation. The designs developed for the traditional
manufacturing has been constrained by the manufacturing process requiring the creating of the
distinct components assembled to generate the outcome. The technologies has been producing
the objects fast incredibly and making them much costly. It has been creating the monolithic and
the dense objects devoid of discernable layering. It has been the widest scope of the materials of
the production in the 3-D printing market.
Moreover, it giving rise to the manufacturing-as-the-service. Same as the software-as-the-
service has spawned various other adjuncts, the advent of the MaaS or manufacturing-as-a-
service as driven by the 3-D printing. The there is also the reduction of the waste and the

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development of the resource use (Moon et al., 2014). The additive manufacturing has been using
the materials it has needed to create the products. The material remaining after the job gets
finished, could be utilized as the subsequent jobs. Thus the 3-D printing has producing the zero
waste theoretically.
Conclusion and recommendations:
Based on the above report it can be concluded that the organizations need to identify how
they could be best benefitted by the 3-D printing. They need to determine the products that are of
low-volume and require altering them fast as the market dynamics alters. All these better fit for
the operations of 3-D printing than the other additional products.
Regarding the recommendations the following points are reminded.
 The printing of the curved features on the multiple planes are to be avoided:
 The prints with the stepping could smoothen out many times using the sand paper.
 The creation of the enclosed hollow features is to be avoided:
 The support material under the hollow feature could not be dissolved. This is because the
soluble solution could not reach the material.

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References:
Campbell, T., Williams, C., Ivanova, O., & Garrett, B. (2011). Could 3D printing change the
world. Technologies, Potential, and Implications of Additive Manufacturing, Atlantic Council,
Washington, DC.
Grice, N., Christian, C., Nota, A., & Greenfield, P. (2015). 3D Printing Technology: A Unique
Way of Making Hubble Space Telescope Images Accessible to Non-Visual Learners. Journal of
Blindness Innovation & Research, 5(1).
Ju, Y., Xie, H., Zheng, Z., Lu, J., Mao, L., Gao, F., & Peng, R. (2014). Visualization of the
complex structure and stress field inside rock by means of 3D printing technology. Chinese
science bulletin, 59(36), 5354-5365.
Lee, J. Y., Tan, W. S., An, J., Chua, C. K., Tang, C. Y., Fane, A. G., & Chong, T. H. (2016). The
potential to enhance membrane module design with 3D printing technology. Journal of
Membrane Science, 499, 480-490.
Lee, V. K., Kim, D. Y., Ngo, H., Lee, Y., Seo, L., Yoo, S. S., ... & Dai, G. (2014). Creating
perfused functional vascular channels using 3D bio-printing technology. Biomaterials, 35(28),
8092-8102.
Loo, A. H., Chua, C. K., & Pumera, M. (2017). DNA biosensing with 3D printing
technology. Analyst, 142(2), 279-283.

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McMenamin, P. G., Quayle, M. R., McHenry, C. R., & Adams, J. W. (2014). The production of
anatomical teaching resources using three‐dimensional (3D) printing technology. Anatomical
sciences education, 7(6), 479-486.
Moon, S. K., Tan, Y. E., Hwang, J., & Yoon, Y. J. (2014). Application of 3D printing technology
for designing light-weight unmanned aerial vehicle wing structures. International Journal of
Precision Engineering and Manufacturing-Green Technology, 1(3), 223-228.
Radenkovic, D., Solouk, A., & Seifalian, A. (2016). Personalized development of human organs
using 3D printing technology. Medical hypotheses, 87, 30-33.
VAT Photopolymerisation | Additive Manufacturing Research Group | Loughborough
University. (2017). Lboro.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2017, from
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/amrg/about/the7categoriesofadditivemanufacturing/
vatphotopolymerisation/
Ventola, C. L. (2014). Medical applications for 3D printing: current and projected
uses. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 39(10), 704.
Weller, C., Kleer, R., & Piller, F. T. (2015). Economic implications of 3D printing: Market
structure models in light of additive manufacturing revisited. International Journal of Production
Economics, 164, 43-56.
Xing, J. F., Zheng, M. L., & Duan, X. M. (2015). Two-photon polymerization microfabrication
of hydrogels: an advanced 3D printing technology for tissue engineering and drug
delivery. Chemical Society Reviews, 44(15), 5031-5039.