Exploring the Impact of 3D Printing

This assignment explores the profound impact of 3D printing technology on various industries. It examines the diverse applications of 3D printing, from prototyping and manufacturing to healthcare and education. The assignment analyzes the advantages and challenges associated with this revolutionary technology, including its potential to disrupt traditional manufacturing processes and empower individuals through decentralized production.

3D PRINTING
ABSTRACT
This paper seeks to comprehend the information behind the 3D printing activities and
processes. The 3D printing has a history from the early centuries in Greece where 3D objects
were made similarly to each other. The printing involves the modelling and design, development
in the software and finally machining. There is a business side to the same concerned on the
return on investment and increase in the number of sales. It is considered as additive
manufacturing that is due to the fact that instead of removing material to create a part or the
entire design model (Hobson, 2012). The design undergoes prototyping of specialized parts and
considers other future applications. The 3D printing technique solves some of the shortcomings
of the traditional machining technologies used in production at industrial or manufacturing level.
Key Words: FDM, Machining, 3D printing, prototyping, design models, SLT.
INTRODUCTION
3D printable models are generated using the computer aided design software through a
three-dimensional scanner or from an ordinary cardinal camera or software. The blue-collar
modelling process of fixing geometric data for three-dimensional mainframe graphics is
analogous to the physical molding of objects (Fratzl, 2007). In 3D printing, there is an additive
industrial course that creates the three-dimensional objects from the 3D digital information
provided. The three-dimensional digital models are sliced into many 2D cross-sections. These
sectional parts are then printed out on top of each other. There are other 3D printers that are
subtractive manufacturing processes such as the CNC and milling processes (Lipson & Kurman,
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2013). These processes are considered a separate group and are referred to as the machining
processes. There are different kinds of processes involved in the production of 3D materials,
(i) Powder based processes
(ii) Solid based processes
(iii) Paper-based processes
(iv) Liquid-based processes
Initially, one starts with the three-dimensional models that are at the design stage. The
information is input in the three-dimensional software or an object is scanned with the 3D
scanner, if one wants to fabricate a real-life object or download an actual file (Anderson, 2012).
The larger set of folks, still have qualms about 3D printing. Such doubt is attributed to the fact
that it still has many unexplored horizons. Similarly, the technology has newly raised concerns
about safety and issues dealing with piracy. The 3D printing software groups the model into
many 3D cross-sections. As the world keeps evolving, new technologies begin emerging. But
only a few new technologies, change the world completely and deeply impact people’s lives
(Kaur, 2012).
LITERATURE REVIEW
When the 3D model is sliced, the data is directed to a 3D printer which reconstructs the
object one layer atop each other. The 3D printers move along the three-axis on the X, Y, Z
coordinates. This is done using the FDM printer (Kamrani, 2006).
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One of the most significant uses for 3D printing is inside the medical industry
(Greenemeier, 2013). In the medical sphere, the medical practitioners are able to make a replica
of the parts from the patient’s bodies when the need to be operated on. The reproduction of the
3D printing ideas makes it possible to make a part from the software in just a couple of
hours. The idea of 3D printing has occurred for centuries with an origin in Greece. The 3D
printing or rapid prototyping is used in engineering to create models and prototypes much faster.
The traditional manufacturing processes such as the injection molding, are cheaper per unit they
are expensive and time consuming to setup or tooling and so a quick alternative was sought
(Berman, 2012). The 3D printed parts and the open source GNU software licensing it allowed
individual users to drive innovations.
Up until the year 2005, the 3D printing was quite expensive and, for the better part, it is
available only for the manufacturing industry. There was a RepRap project conducted by Adrian
Bowyer in the year 2005 that was a collaborative challenge to create a self-replicating machine.
The project made the 3D printing use cheaper technology, adopt a patent expiration strategy, and
was made open source (D'Aveni, 2013). The traditional casting method takes four to five
months.
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One of their current projects involves implementing a 3D printer inside future shuttles in
order to easily replace broken parts and build objects that might be needed in outer space (Seitz,
et al., 2005). They have also begun testing on 3D-printed rocket injectors. The creating 3D
models are made using Computer Aided Design. There are solid modelers and mesh modelers
are meant to model in solids. They are advantageous for 3D printing since models will be
manifold and all models are exported to meshes before printing. The parametric modelers are
using a set of rules to define an object. It is used in the medical and aerospace industry and the
metal parts are modelled. The 3D printing faces a number of challenges include,
(i) Limited and high cost of materials
(ii) Unreliability of machines (20% reject rate)
(iii) Challenges scaling up technology
(iv) Speed and IP
(v) Environmental concerns, surface finish, resolution
(vi) Mechanical properties, post processing, and still only making shapes.
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There are seven different types of 3D printing such as the substantial extrusion (FDM) as
most public technology and desktop replicas are widespread. There is the material jetting which
provides more professional prototypes, multi-materials, and common in design firms. The binder
jetting is the visual prototypes, tooling, investment casting for the larger platforms. Different
research cases have shown that it is actually possible to have printouts of a wide range of
materials. There is a lot of emerging use of the print technology in the automobile and medical
spheres. The sheet lamination has reams of paper act as the base materials, low strength, and
opportunities for decent resolution color. The Vat Polymerization is the SLA is the oldest 3D
printing technology, high resolution but relatively, and low strength parts, and the new desktop
versions are available.
The print technology has the ability to remove several materials from the system or
model being designed. Powder based system (SLS) has a wider range of materials, very strength,
functional parts, base materials is in powder form and it is still at the industrial scale. Directed
Energy deposition uses the electron Beam melting to perform the modelling and printing. When
an industry performs customized production of materials, it is not cost effective to use an
industrial complex for production. The materials or different designs can be produced separately
using the 3D printers to ensure that the system generates a customized product. The usage is
common for vintage cars and custom-made vehicles that are rare and their spare parts are not
obtained on a large scale. The use of 3D printing has increased the component functionality. A
lot of factors need to be considered such as the thermal constraint to ensure that the high thermal
conductivity of a structure is maintained and the printing process does not destroy a component.
The system of 3D printing has a number of merits such as,
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(i) The product formation is currently the main use of 3D printing
technology.
(ii) The surgeons and dentists are using the 3D printers to print sections of the
body before doing the complex surgeries. The machine constructs body parts such as the
grafts for the patients who have been through the traumatic injuries. These are used to
create replacement organs such as tooth or jaw sections.
(iii) The NASA engineers have advanced the technology in the aerospace
applications. The team at NASA uses the Fused Deposition Modelling to perform
additive manufacturing of the very complex shapes and durable enough systems or
structures. In aerospace engineering, some of the parts of the aircrafts require the full
model before assembly.
(iv) The architects are also great users of the 3D printing. For a long time,
architects have been using blue print plans to show designs but with the advent of 3D
printers, the architects can use them to illustrate the design to their clients
(v) Artists can demonstrate their objects and ideas that are incredible and yet
difficult and expensive to achieve using the current concepts with the traditional
processes. The 3D printers save the organization a lot of time, effort, and the system
reduces errors that are encountered when generating 3D objects using traditional means.
EVALUATION
There are variations of 3D printing technology such as the stereolithographic, FDM, and
powdered Bed. The UV light is used to harden photosensitive photopolymers and resins. There
are fused deposition modelling and plastic jet printing has a melted plastic filament pushed
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through a nozzle or an extruder. The common plastics are the ABS and the PLA. A granular bed
of materials is selectively fused together by a laser. There are various materials such as metal
alloys, metal powders, thermoplastics, and ceramic powders. On the economic scale, the additive
manufacturing is currently a $2.2 billion industry globally. The market is expected to triple by
the 2018 to about $6 billion. The injection molding market expected to be $252 billion in 2018.
People use the 3D printing for prototyping, low volume manufacturing, tooling, consumer
products, customization and personalization, art and design, education, and medical
implementation. The three-dimensional modelling has design freedom and what you design is
what you print. The 3D printers are able to achieve smoother and finer finishes than the
machining techniques done by millers and lathe machines or even the CNC machines. The
printer can produce products with very thick or thin measurements exactly as designed by the
engineers or architects. The products are able to capture the look or feel of the future products.
CONCLUSION
In a nutshell, the 3D printing is still being developed and the literature review shows that
there are many benefits and caveats with regards to its utilization. There are great
accomplishments with regards to the development of the 3D printing especially in the medical
and construction field. For now, it is something that has to be further looked into in order to
fully understand its extents whether good or bad. There is need to have more investment in the
research and development of improved 3D technology versions. The propulsion in 3D printing
enables the different organizations to get value for their investments. There is a better future for
the 3D printers as more industries are embracing the technology and it is becoming more
affordable as the technology evolves. One of the greatest areas to evolve is the medical sphere
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where the medics are now generating even artificial bone structure for surgery purposes and
implants.
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