Feasibility of 3D Printing for the Built Environment: An Overview

This report provides an in-depth analysis of 3D printing, focusing on its feasibility within the built environment. It begins with an introduction to 3D printing technology, explaining its additive manufacturing process and its applications across various fields. The report then delves into the diverse materials used in 3D printing, including plastics, metals, and biomaterials, and describes different printing methods such as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), and Stereo lithography (SLA). A significant portion of the report examines the environmental impact of 3D printing, highlighting its potential for sustainability through the use of recycled materials and its role in reducing waste and emissions compared to traditional manufacturing. Furthermore, the report discusses the social impacts of 3D printing, particularly its potential in developing countries and its applications in disaster management and sustainable design, such as the creation of bamboo bikes. The report concludes by emphasizing the revolutionary impact of 3D printing across various sectors and its potential for future developments.

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3D Printing for the Built Environment- Feasible?

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Introduction
3D printing is the process of manufacturing an object in three dimension formations with
material layer by layer. 3D printing is one of the additive layer fabrication processes, this
technology uses a computer-based system to make a 3D model of the object and manufacture
it by adding a layer at a time. This technology has enhanced and significantly upgraded into a
great instrument for various fields. Merging various fields in single product formed 3D
printer as it involves design, electronics, manufacturing, materials and business. 3D printing
is known as additive manufacturing, as it is not like subtractive manufacturing and it adds
material with lot of layers instead of removing material (Hager, Golonka and Putanowicz,
2016). This is beneficial for many fields such as researchers, manufacturers, designers,
engineers and scientists. The 3D printing technology is revolutionising the procedure of
manufacturing in various industries. It entirely modifies not only the manufacturing field, but
also entire life of people in the future as 3D printer makes feasible to complete model in a
single process. 3D printing is an advancement of printing technologies which can
manufacture or reproduce elegant structures in one piece. This technology offers direct
manufacturing as through a printer, physical product can be generated directly by inputting a
design from an idea. 3D printing is an innovative technology, it started in the 80’s and named
as “rapid prototyping”. Today, 3D printers offer to manufacture a physical object from digital
model as per the imagination.
In order to use 3D printer, firstly preparation is mandatory before printing, like designing a
3D file of the object that has to be printed. To design 3D model or file there are many ways
such as through CAD software, websites like Blender and Google SketchUp or it can be
simply downloaded from online marketplace for pre made designed models (Kellens, et. al.,
2017). When the 3D model is ready for printing then the printing process has to be done. For
printing process, initially material has to be decided which would be required for the object.
3D printing provides vast variety of materials such as plastics, resins, sand, ceramics, metals,
textiles, biomaterials, glass, food and also lunar dust (Peng, 2016). After deciding the
materials for manufacturing and finishing of the object for the accurate result of design, the
object has to be printed and if it has not been sanded, lacquered or painted to finish it as
deliberated then usually it cannot be directly used or delivered. Printing methods depend on
material selected for the project.

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Printing techniques of each material are described; if plastic or alumide has to be used during
manufacturing then fused deposition modelling technology (FDM) and SLS technology
would be best suitable. FDM is the most frequently used printing technique because of the
number of printers accessible in the market. In this technique the material is being melted and
emitted with the help of a nozzle by each layer at a time to 3D print the object. Thickness of
the layer is influenced by the quality of 3D print (Sculpteo, 2018). As compared to other 3D
printing technologies, FDM is an affordable 3D printing process. SLS technology is a laser
sintering 3D printing technique which includes fabrication of an item by melting layers of
powder collectively to manufacture an object.
If the materials are resin or wax during the additive manufacturing then there are four
methods of 3D printing such as Stereo lithography (SLA), Digital light processing (DLP),
Continuous liquid interface production (CLIP) and Multi jet printers. A tank is used of
remediable photopolymer resin in SLA method. The build plate goes down and where UV
laser creates cross section layer by layer then the liquid polymer is exposed to light. DLP
method is similar as the SLA method, the difference is that in DLP method a safelight is used
instead of UV laser to cure the photopolymer resin (Sculpteo, 2018). DLP method can be
used for silver and brass 3D printing. CLIP method is used with a continuous sequence of UV
images which are produced by a digital light projector, with the help of an oxygen permeable,
UV transparent window under a liquid resin bath. Multi Jet printers are similar to SLA
method, in this method UV light is used by poly jet and multi jet 3D printing techniques to
link a photopolymer. A printer jet pours tiny droplets of the photopolymer in the shape of the
first layer and not scan laser to cure layers.
When metal has to be used as material, then the methods would be DLP, Direct metal laser
sintering (DMLS) and Electron beam melting (EBM). DLP can be used for silver and brass
3D prints. Primarily a wax model is 3D printed then lost was casting technique is used as
before the wax is melted the pattern has to be made around it to create the object. In DMLS
method laser is used as primary source to sinter metal powder through laser cross section
layer by layer of the object (Sculpteo, 2018). In EBM method laser is not used during 3D
print, instead of laser and electron beam is used to 3D print the metal. This electron beam
melts the metal powder layer by layer and has ability of full melting of the metal powder.
When multicolour is required during the 3D printing, then the methods used are Binder
jetting, Selective deposition lamination (SDL) and Triple jetting technology (Poly jet). Binder

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jetting is very popular and useful as it provides the facility of producing detailed 3D prints
with colour. To apply a layer of powder on the build platform, the automated roller is used.
Liquid binder and colour can also be applied to create a cross section of the product. SDL
method is processed with the help of paper. In this process layers of adhesive coated paper
are stuck together with the support of high temperature roller and then slash with a laser
cutter to give the appropriate shape (Fosso, 2017). Triple jetting technology includes printing
with the three materials and can also use three colours.
3D printing is experiencing a boom in recent years. This technology is also known as additive
manufacturer and helps to design and manufacture products faster than ever before. Hence, it
is becoming more potential even if we consider environmental issues. 3D printing is friendly
for environment by supportable material. If we think about sustainability then the important
part is material used for 3D printing (Chen, 2016). In the last years, there have been some
cases where development of 3D printer materials from recycled plastic has been practiced.
According to Joshua Pear the plastic fibre from milk jugs is energy efficient. 3D printing is
turning waste into fashion as this technology is not only helpful in reducing waste. Whereas,
it also offers variety of ways for reuse the waste for the fashion industry. For example, the
sports brand Adidas has printed shoe, which has a 3D printed midsole manufactured from
recycled fishing nets.
3D printing uses a lot of energy. 3D printers are utilizing lasers or heat 50 to 100 times more
electricity than production from traditional techniques to manufacture the same object of the
equal weight. However, it has important impact on environment as in many areas electricity
has been generated from fossil fuel sources (Liu, et. al., 2016). Less material is being used in
3D printing technology as compared to traditional manufacturing methods. 3D printing
methods offers to melt, fuse, bind and sinter the amount of plastic, metal and ceramic.
Whereas, in subtractive manufacturing usually cutting has to be done of excess material so
the additive manufacturing is very different from the subtractive manufacturing. As energy
has not been used to produce extra material and also to remove it during subtractive method
has to be done. Hence, it uses less energy as compared to other methods.
3D printing is beneficial for environment as it has the ability to print objects at any place like
at store or at home and this reduces the need to transport the objects manufactured. Hence,
helpful in lowering the emissions caused with the transportation. 3D printed products are
usually up to 50 per cent lighter than the products manufactured through standard techniques

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(Pirjan and Petrosanu, 2013). Hence, during transportation of the 3D printed products, less
energy would be required. Whereas, the transportation is very less of the overall
environmental impacts because when a product has to be shipped from thousands of miles
away in any other country.
3D printed objects are usually manufactured of thermoplastic, which is not the greenest
material and cannot be frequently recycled. Thermoplastic can be recycled by several
machines in the market like the material which is from unsuccessful prototypes for use in 3D
printers (Mendoza, 2015). Whereas, the more this recycled plastic is being recycled it
becomes more delicate which tend users to become reluctant to try it. The industry is trying
and working on improving their recycling technologies. 3D printing is environmentally-
friendly as it prevents to use traditional petroleum based materials and includes the use
biodegradable and renewable plant based sources. The two major plastics used in additive
manufacturing come from corn (Rogers, et. al., 2016). Poly lactic acid creates little waste as it
is biodegradable, renewable and nontoxic. In this industry because of these reasons this
choice is on priority. This industry asks their designers to make lighter weight products. More
time would be consumed for making something big. So, they line up the incentive structures
of the economies and this would be helpful in meeting environmental priorities.
3D printing offers to manufacture the light weight and strong complex shapes very fast. This
technique helps in manufacturing cars and wind turbines and when these products are made
with lighter weight parts then they can be helpful in saving energy. 3D printing also has
positive impact socially than environmental (Silva Barros, 2017). As 3D printing can be used
at any place for printing objects, then this technique should be used in developing countries
that are not connected from global supply chains.
Additive manufacturing can efficiently employ raw materials and their functionality. In a
powder based process, nonconsolidated raw materials are used such as in powder bed fusion
that can be reused that would help in diminishing material waste (Boon and Van, 2017).
Optimisation in the design of the object has been enabled by free form fabrication of the
additive manufacturing. The optimal design will help in reduction of materials, energy, fuel,
or natural resources in the product manufacturing. When huge amounts of energy are wasted
like in moulding or casting, then the additive manufacturing can change the process and can
also save resources utilised on the fabrication of tooling during production.

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3D printing is revolutionizing every field. This technique is beneficial for environment in
many ways such as, new body parts can be printed and working ovaries for mice can be
created. Biologists made infertile mice fertile again by providing them 3D printed ovaries.
Hence, it can be said that this technique is helpful in saving the world (Mohr and Khan,
2015). This technique is helpful in predicting natural disasters as 3D geospatial modelling is
easy to create, carry and transfer environmental safety messages, 3D landscapes has been best
way of communication for geoscientists by satellites designed for disaster response. With the
help of 3D printing, scientists can provide an understanding to people regarding landscape
and the risk (Insight, 2013). This help in taking prior and effective actions for safety. All over
the globe these printed models are being used for the safety purpose, these address critical
problems such as cliff erosion, volcanic eruption and wildfires. 3D printing technique offers
to create a bamboo bike by using natural resources like hemp and resin (Baumann and Roller,
2017). This bike has been created by using sustainably sourced material, holding bamboo
rods together by tubular joining pieces called lugs. Lugs have been created by bio fibre and a
plant based resin glue. When bamboo bicycle is created by using 3D printing then it has been
analysed that lugs have been created from carbon fibre filament, carbon fibre is recyclable.
3D printing can be done on demand, as parts can be manufactured when they are required by
producing on demand. This simply means instead of manufacturing products in bulk, now
with the help of 3D printing production can be done when the objects are needed. This is
beneficial in saving storage (Surange and Gharat, 2016). The less manufacturing of stock
allows putting the less capital, on demand production is also beneficial because risk of unsold
stock or wastage stock is less and also prevent from selling the stock on discount (Garcia,
Claver and Sebastian, 2017). 3D printing lower the carbon dioxide footprint, other
manufacturing techniques causes the emission of carbon dioxide because most of the
machines use fuel for their operation. The carbon dioxide causes air pollution and global
warming. According to the research done by an aerospace and defence research organisation
on the environmental impacts of additive printing, it was found that along with the fact that
this technique save usage of energy and reduce the carbon dioxide emission during
transportation, 3D printing also makes lighter aircraft components, almost 40% less carbon
dioxide has been used during the production process of these kind of printed parts.

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Conclusion
It has been concluded from the above report that 3D printing technology has positive impact
on the environment. 3D printing is also known as additive manufacturing and we have
discussed the process of using 3D printing and also discussed about the materials used in this
technique. There are different methods of 3D printing according to various materials. We
have discussed the advantages and limitations of this technique. 3D printing is having a
tremendous impact on industries such as aerospace and automotive to healthcare. This
technique is turning waste into fashion, as it is utilizing waste in fashion industry. Huge
amount of electricity and energy is being saved in this technique as compared to other
techniques. 3D printing prevents the carbon dioxide emission. It is beneficial for environment
as it prevents to use petroleum based materials and tends to use biodegradable and renewable
sources. With the help of 3D printing technique the transportation has been reduced as it can
be used anywhere and this technique offers to manufacture lighter weight products. This
technique helps in knowing the disasters previously so that prior safety actions could be
taken. 3D printing is an additive manufacturing which is beneficial for environment.

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