SEMINAR REPORT ON

3D PRINTING
TECHNOLOGY

Submitted by – Akshay

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 CONTENTS
 History
o Terminology and methods
o Applications
 General principles
o Modeling
o Printing
o Finishing
 Processes
o Extrusion deposition
o Binding of granular materials
o Lamination
o Photopolymerization
o Bioprinting
o Nanoscale 3D printing
 Printers
o Industry use

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 o Consumer use
o Large 3D printers
 Efficiency
 Manufacturing applications
o Distributed manufacturing
o Mass customization
o Rapid manufacturing
o Rapid prototyping
o Research
o Food
 Industrial applications
o Apparel
o Automobiles
o Construction
o Medical
o Computers and robots
o Space
 Sociocultural applications
o Art
o Communication
o Domestic use
o Education and research
o Environmental use

INTRODUCTION
3D printing (or additive manufacturing, AM) is any of various processes used to
make a three-dimensional object. In 3D printing, additive processes are used, in which
successive layers of material are laid down under computer control. Theseobjects can
be of almost any shape or geometry, and are produced from a 3D model or other
electronic data source. A 3D printer is a type of industrial robot.

3D printing in the term's original sense refers to processes that sequentially deposit
material onto a powder bed with inkjet printer heads. More recently the meaning of
the term has expanded to encompass a wider variety of techniquessuch as
extrusion and sintering based processes. Technical standards generally use the
term additive manufacturing for this broader sense.

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 HISTORY
Terminology and methods

CAD Model used for 3D Printing

Earlier AM equipment and materials were developed in the 1980s. In 1981, Hideo
Kodama of Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute invented two AM
fabricating methods of a three-dimensional plastic model with photo-hardening
polymer, where the UV exposure area is controlled by a mask pattern or the scanning
fiber transmitter.Then in 1984, Chuck Hull of 3D Systems Corporation,developed a
prototype system based on this process known as stereolithography, in which layers
are added by curing photopolymers with ultraviolet light lasers. Hull defined the
process as a "system for generating three-dimensional objects by creating a cross-
sectional pattern of the object to be formed," but this had been already invented by
Kodama. Hull's contribution is the design of STL (STereoLithography) file format
widely accepted by 3D printing software as well as the digital slicing and infill
strategies common to many processes today. The term 3D printing originally referred
to a process employing standard and custom inkjet print heads. The technology used
by most 3D printers to date—especially hobbyist and consumer-oriented models—is
fused deposition modeling, a special application of plastic extrusion.
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The umbrella term additive manufacturing gained wider currency in the decade of the
2000s as the various additive processes matured and it became clear that soon metal
removal would no longer be the only metalworking process done under that type of
control (a tool or head moving through a 3D work envelope transforming a mass of
raw material into a desired shape layer by layer). It was during this decade that the
term subtractive manufacturing appeared as a retronym for the large family of
machining processes with metal removal as theircommon theme. However, at the
time, the term 3D printing still referred only to the polymer technologies in most
minds, and the term AM was likelier to be usedin metalworking contexts than among
polymer/inkjet/stereolithography enthusiasts. The term subtractive has not replaced
the term machining, instead complementing it when a term that covers any removal
method is needed.

By the early 2010s, the terms 3D printing and additive manufacturing developed
senses in which they were synonymous umbrella terms for all AM technologies.
Although this was a departure from their earlier technically narrower senses, it
reflects the simple fact that the technologies all share the common theme of
sequential-layer material addition/joining throughout a 3D work envelope under
automated control. (Other terms that have appeared, which are usually used as AM
synonyms (although sometimes as hypernyms), have been desktop manufacturing,
rapid manufacturing [as the logical production-level successor torapid prototyping],
and on-demand manufacturing [which echoes on-demand printing in the 2D sense of
printing].) The 2010s were the first decade in which metal parts such as engine
brackets and large nuts would be grown (either before or instead of machining) in job
production rather than obligately being machined from bar stock or plate.

APPLICATIONS
AM technologies found applications starting in the 1980s in product development,
data visualization, rapid prototyping, and specialized manufacturing. Their expansion
into production (job production, mass production, and distributed manufacturing)
has been under development in the decades since. Industrial production roles within
the metalworking industries achieved significant scale for the first time in the early
2010s. Since the start of the 21st century there has been a large growth in the sales of
AM machines, andtheir price has dropped substantially. According to Wohlers
Associates, a consultancy, the market for 3D printers and services was worth $2.2
billion worldwide in 2012, up 29% from 2011. There are many applications for AM
technologies, including architecture, construction (AEC), industrial design,
automotive, aerospace, military, engineering, dental and medical industries, biotech
(human tissue replacement), fashion, footwear, jewelry, eyewear, education,
geographic information systems, food, and many other fields.

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In 2005, a rapidly expanding hobbyist and home-use market was establishedwith
the inauguration of the open-source RepRap and Fab@Home projects.
Virtually all home-use 3D printers released to-date have their technical roots in the
ongoing RepRap Project and associated open-source software initiatives. In distributed
manufacturing, one study has found that 3D printing could become a mass market
product enabling consumers to save money associated with purchasing common
household objects. For example, instead of going to a store to buy an object made in a
factory by injection molding (such as a measuring cupor a funnel), a person might
instead print it at home from a downloaded 3D model.

PRINCIPLES
The manual modeling process of preparing geometric data for 3D computer graphics
is similar to plastic arts such as sculpting. 3D scanning is a process of analysing and
collecting digital data on the shape and appearance of a real object. Based on this data,
three-dimensional models of the scanned object canthen be produced.

Regardless of the 3D modelling software used, the 3D model (often in .skp,

.dae, .3ds or some other format) then needs to be converted to either a.STL or a .OBJ
format, to allow the printing (a.k.a. "CAM") software to be able to read it.

Printing
Before printing a 3D model from an STL file, it must first be examined for "manifold
errors", this step being called the "fixup". Especially STL's that have been produced
from a model obtained through 3D scanning often have many manifold errors in them
that need to be fixed. Examples of manifold errors are surfaces that do not connect,
gaps in the models, ... Examples of software that

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can be used to fix these errors are netfabb and Meshmixer, or even Cura, orSlic3r.

Once that's done, the .STL file needs to be processed by a piece of software called a
"slicer" which converts the model into a series of thin layers and produces a G-code
file containing instructions tailored to a specific type of 3D printer (FDM printers). This
G-code file can then be printed with 3D printing client software (which loads the G-
code, and uses it to instruct the 3D printer during the 3D printing process). It should
be noted here that often, the client software and the slicer are combined into one
software program in practice. Several open source slicer programs exist, including
Skeinforge, Slic3r, and Cura as well as closed source programs including Simplify3D
and KISSlicer. Examples of 3D printing clients include Repetier-Host, ReplicatorG,
Printrun/Pronterface, etc

Note that there is one other piece of software that is often used by people using 3D
printing, namely a GCode viewer. This software lets one examine the route of travel of
the printer nozzle. By examining this, the user can decide to modify the GCode to print
the model a different way (for example in a different position, e.g.standing versus lying
down) so as to save plastic (depending on the position and nozzle travel, more or less
support material may be needed). Examples of GCode viewers are Gcode Viewer for
Blender and Pleasant3D.

The 3D printer follows the G-code instructions to lay down successive layers of liquid,
powder, paper or sheet material to build the model from a series of cross sections.
These layers, which correspond to the virtual cross sections from the CAD model, are
joined or automatically fused to create the final shape. The primary advantage of this
technique is its ability to create almost any shape or geometric feature.

Printer resolution describes layer thickness and X-Y resolution in dots per inch (dpi) or
micrometres (µm). Typical layer thickness is around 100 µm (250 DPI), although some
machines such as the Objet Connex series and 3D Systems' ProJet series can print
layers as thin as 16 µm (1,600 DPI).[24] X-Y resolution is comparable to that of laser
printers. The particles (3D dots) are around 50 to 100µm (510 to 250 DPI) in
diameter.

Construction of a model with contemporary methods can take anywhere from several
hours to several days, depending on the method used and the size and complexity of
the model. Additive systems can typically reduce this time to a fewhours, although it
varies widely depending on the type of machine used and the size and number of
models being produced simultaneously.

Traditional techniques like injection moulding can be less expensive for manufacturing
polymer products in high quantities, but additive manufacturingcan be faster, more
flexible and less expensive when producing relatively smallquantities of parts. 3D
printers give designers and concept development teamsthe ability to produce parts
and concept models using a desktop size printer.

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Finishing
Though the printer-produced resolution is sufficient for many applications, printing a
slightly oversized version of the desired object in standard resolution and then
removing material[25] with a higher-resolution subtractive process canachieve
greater precision.

Some printable polymers allow the surface finish to be smoothed and improvedusing
chemical vapour processes.

Some additive manufacturing techniques are capable of using multiple materials in the
course of constructing parts. These techniques are able to print in multiple colors and
color combinations simultaneously, and would not necessarily require painting.

Some printing techniques require internal supports to be built for overhanging features
during construction. These supports must be mechanically removed ordissolved upon
completion of the print.

All of the commercialized metal 3-D printers involve cutting the metal component off
of the metal substrate after deposition. A new process for theGMAW 3-D printing
allows for substrate surface modifications to remove aluminum components
manually with a hammer.[26]

Processes

The Audi RSQ was made with rapid prototyping industrial KUKA robots
Several different 3D printing processes have been invented since the late 1970s.The
printers were originally large, expensive, and highly limited in what they could
produce.

A large number of additive processes are now available. The main differences between
processes are in the way layers are deposited to create parts and in thematerials that
are used. Some methods melt or soften material to produce the layers, e.g. selective
laser melting (SLM) or direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), selective laser sintering
(SLS), fused deposition modeling (FDM), or fused filament fabrication (FFF), while
others cure liquid materials using different sophisticated technologies, e.g.
stereolithography (SLA). With laminated object manufacturing (LOM), thin layers are
cut to shape and joined together (e.g. paper, polymer, metal). Each method has its own
advantages and drawbacks, which is why some companies consequently offer a
choice between powder and polymer for the material used to build the object. Other
companies sometimes use standard, off-the-shelf business paper as the build material
to produce a durable prototype. The main considerations in choosing a machine are
generally speed, cost of the 3D printer, cost of the printed prototype, cost and choice of
materials, and color capabilities.[30]

Printers that work directly with metals are expensive. In some cases, however,less
expensive printers can be used to make a mould, which is then used to make metal
parts.[31]

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Type Technologies Materials

Thermoplastics (e.g. PLA, ABS, HIPS,

Fused deposition Nylon), HDPE, eutectic metals, edible
modeling(FDM) materials, Rubber (Sugru), Modeling
or Fused Filament clay, Plasticine, RTV
Fabrication (FFF) silicone, Porcelain, Metal
Extrusion
clay (including Precious Metal Clay)

Ceramic materials, Metal

Robocasting alloy, cermet, metal matrix
composite, ceramic matrix composite

Electron Beam
Wire Freeform Almost any metal alloy
Fabrication (EBF3)

Direct metal laser

Almost any metal alloy
sintering(DMLS)

Electron-beam Almost any metal

melting (EBM) alloy including Titanium alloys

Selective laser Titanium alloys, Cobalt Chrome alloys,

Granular
melting (SLM) Stainless Steel, Aluminium

Selective heat
Thermoplastic powder
sintering (SHS)[32]

Selective laser Thermoplastics, metal powders, ceramic

sintering (SLS) powders

Powder bed
and inkjet Plaster-based 3D
Plaster
head 3D printing (PP)
printing

Laminated object
Laminated Paper, metal foil, plastic film
manufacturing (LOM)

Light Stereolithography (SL

photopolymer
polymerised A)

Digital Light
photopolymer
Processing (DLP)

Continuous Liquid UV light causes photo polymerization of

Interface resin while also using oxygen inhibitor via

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 Production (CLIP) porous lens

Extrusion deposition

Fused deposition modeling: 1 – nozzle ejecting molten plastic, 2 – depositedmaterial

(modeled part), 3 – controlled movable table
Main article: Fused deposition modeling
|- | Digital Light Processing (DLP) | photopolymer Fused deposition modeling (FDM)
was developed by S. Scott Crump in the late 1980s and was commercialized in 1990
by Stratasys.[33] After the patent on this technology expired, a large open-source
development community developed and both commercial and DIY variants utilizing
this type of 3D printer appeared. As a result, the price of this technology has dropped
by two orders of magnitude sinceits creation.

In fused deposition modeling the model or part is produced by extruding small beads
of material which harden immediately to form layers. A thermoplastic filament or
metal wire that is wound on a coil is unreeled to supply material to an extrusion nozzle
head. The nozzle head heats the material and turns the flow on and off. Typically
stepper motors or servo motors are employed to move the extrusion head and adjust
the flow. The head can be moved in both horizontal and vertical directions, and control
of the mechanism is typically done by a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM)
software package running on a microcontroller.

Various polymers are used, including acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS),

polycarbonate (PC), polylactic acid (PLA), high density polyethylene (HDPE), PC/ABS,
polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) and high impact polystyrene (HIPS). In general, the
polymer is in the form of a filament fabricated from virgin resins. There are multiple
projects in the open-sourced community aimed at processing post-consumer plastic
waste into filament. These involve machines used to shredand extrude the plastic
material into filament.

FDM is somewhat restricted in the variation of shapes that may be fabricated.For

example, FDM usually cannot produce stalactite-like structures, since theywould be
unsupported during the build. Otherwise, a thin support must be designed into the
structure which can be broken away during finishing.

Binding of granular materials

The CandyFab granular printing system uses heated air and granulated sugar to
produce food-grade art objects

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Another 3D printing approach is the selective fusing of materials in a granular bed.
The technique fuses parts of the layer and then moves downward in the working
area, adding another layer of granules and repeating the process until the piece has
built up. This process uses the unfused media to support overhangs and thin walls in
the part being produced, which reduces the need fortemporary auxiliary supports for
the piece. A laser is typically used to sinter the media into a solid. Examples include
selective laser sintering (SLS), with both metals and polymers (e.g. PA, PA-GF, Rigid
GF, PEEK, PS, Alumide, Carbonmide, elastomers), and direct metal laser sintering
(DMLS).[34]

Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) was developed and patented by Dr. Carl Deckardand
Dr. Joseph Beaman at the University of Texas at Austin in the mid-1980s, under
sponsorship of DARPA.[35] A similar process was patented without being
commercialized by R. F. Housholder in 1979.[36]

Selective laser melting (SLM) does not use sintering for the fusion of powder granules
but will completely melt the powder using a high-energy laser to createfully dense
materials in a layer-wise method that has mechanical properties similar to those of
conventional manufactured metals.

Electron beam melting (EBM) is a similar type of additive manufacturing technology

for metal parts (e.g. titanium alloys). EBM manufactures parts by melting metal
powder layer by layer with an electron beam in a high vacuum. Unlike metal
sintering techniques that operate below melting point, EBM partsare fully dense,
void-free, and very strong.

Another method consists of an inkjet 3D printing system. The printer creates the
model one layer at a time by spreading a layer of powder (plaster, or resins) and
printing a binder in the cross-section of the part using an inkjet-like process. Thisis
repeated until every layer has been printed. This technology allows the printing of full
color prototypes, overhangs, and elastomer parts. The strength ofbonded powder
prints can be enhanced with wax or thermoset polymer impregnation.

Lamination
Main article: Laminated object manufacturing
In some printers, paper can be used as the build material, resulting in a lower cost
to print. During the 1990s some companies marketed printers that cut crosssections
out of special adhesive coated paper using a carbon dioxide laser and then
laminated them together.

In 2005 Mcor Technologies Ltd developed a different process using ordinary sheets
of office paper, a tungsten carbide blade to cut the shape, and selectivedeposition of
adhesive and pressure to bond the prototype.

There are also a number of companies selling printers that print laminatedobjects
using thin plastic and metal sheets.

Photopolymerization

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Stereolithography was patented in 1986 by Chuck Hull.[40] Photopolymerization is
primarily used in stereolithography (SLA) to produce a solid part from a liquid. This
process dramatically redefined previous efforts, from the "photosculpture" method of
François Willème (1830–1905) in 1860 through the photopolymerization of
Mitsubishi's Matsubara in 1974. The "photosculpture" method consisted of
photographing a subject from a variety of equidistant anglesand projecting each
photograph onto a screen, where a pantagraph was used to trace the outline onto
modeling clay)

In photo-polymerization, a vat of liquid polymer is exposed to controlled lighting

under safelight conditions. The exposed liquid polymer hardens. The build plate then
moves down in small increments and the liquid polymer is again exposed tolight. The
process repeats until the model has been built. The liquid polymer is then drained
from the vat, leaving the solid model. The EnvisionTEC Perfactory isan example of a
DLP rapid prototyping system.

Inkjet printer systems like the Objet PolyJet system spray photopolymer materialsonto
a build tray in ultra-thin layers (between 16 and 30 µm) until the part is completed.
Each photopolymer layer is cured with UV light after it is jetted, producing fully cured
models that can be handled and used immediately, without post-curing. The ge|- |
Digital Light Processing (DLP) | photopolymerl-like supportmaterial, which is designed
to support complicated geometries, is removed by hand and water jetting. It is also
suitable for elastomers.

Ultra-small features can be made with the 3D micro-fabrication technique used in

multiphoton photopolymerisation. This approach uses a focused laser to trace the
desired 3D object into a block of gel. Due to the nonlinear nature of photo excitation,
the gel is cured to a solid only in the places where the laser was focused while the
remaining gel is then washed away. Feature sizes of under 100 nm are easily
produced, as well as complex structures with moving and interlocked parts.

Yet another approach uses a synthetic resin that is solidified using LEDs.

In Mask-image-projection-based stereolithography a 3D digital model is sliced bya

set of horizontal planes. Each slice is converted into a two-dimensional mask image.
The mask image is then projected onto a photocurable liquid resin surface and light is
projected onto the resin to cure it in the shape of the layer.
[48] The technique has been used to create objects composed of multiple materials
that cure at different rates.[48] In research systems, the light is projected from below,
allowing the resin to be quickly spread into uniform thinlayers, reducing production
time from hours to minutes.[48] Commercially available devices such as Objet Connex
apply the resin via small nozzles.[48]

Bioprinting
3D bioprinting is the process of generating 3D structures and geometries utilizing
cells and an encapsulation material. The medical applications of 3D bioprinting are
numerous, and are thus the subject of intensive research at academic

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institutions such as Cornell University and companies such as Organovo. One major
application area of bioprinting is in the tissue engineering field of regenerative
medicine. In addition to the complexities associated with 3D printing in general, extra
considerations must be taken regarding material, cell type, and growth factor
selection.[49] Because of these extra considerations, bioprinting research is truly a
cross-disciplinary endeavor, involving researchersfrom the fields of materials
science, cell biology, engineering of all kinds, and medicine.

3D bioprinting has seen much preliminary success in terms of generation of several

different kinds of tissues. These include skin, bone, cartilage, trachea, and heart
tissue.[49] While preliminary success has been attained in these noncritically
functional tissue structures, significant research effort is directed towards the
generation of fully functional replacement organs and tissues, suchas aortic heart
valves.

Researchers in the Jonathan Butcher Laboratory in the Cornell University College of

Engineering have been developing methods to bioprint living aortic heart valves.[50]
Poly(ethylene glycol)-diacrylate (PEGDA) is used as a base polymer, because of its
biocompatibility and easily tunable mechanical properties.[51] Twodifferent solutions
of PEGDA were created with different mechanical stiffnesses when crosslinked, with
the stiffer polymer to be used as the aortic root wall and the compliant polymer to be
used as the valve leaflets. Using these solutions, a valve exhibiting mechanical
heterogeneity and cytocompatibility was bioprinted, which will serve as a base for
future development of the aortic valve printing process.[52]

The Lawrence Bonassar Laboratory at Cornell University has been working on 3D

bioprinting cartilaginous geometries. One focus of their research involves the
replacement of intervertebral disks with Tissue Engineered-Total Disk Replacement
constructs.[53] Tissue engineered intervertebral disks were bioprinted with cell-
seeded hydrogel constructs, and implanted into male rats.

Commercially, Printerinks, a UK company, and Organovo, a U.S. company, have

worked together to develop human tissue through 3D printing. Printer cartridgesare
adapted to use stem cells obtained from biopsies and grown in cultures. The resulting
substance is called Bioink.[54]

Nanoscale 3D printing
3D printing techniques can be employed to construct nanoscale-size objects. Such
printed objects are typically grown on a solid substrate, e.g. silicon wafer, to which
they adhere after printing as they're too small and fragile to be manipulated post-
construction. While 2D nanostructures are usually created by depositing material
through some sort of static stencil mask, 3D nanostructures can be printed by
physically moving a stencil mask during the material deposition process.
Programmable-height nanostructures with widths as small as10 nm have been
produced by metallic physical vapor deposition through a piezo-actuator controlled
stencil mask having a milled nanopore in a silicon nitride membrane. This metal-
vapor technique is also advantageous because it

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can be used on surfaces that are too sensitive to heat or chemicals for traditional
lithography to be used on.

Industry use
As of October 2012, Stratasys now sells additive manufacturing systems that range
from $2,000 to $500,000 in price and are employed in several industries:aerospace,
architecture, automotive, defense, and dental, among many others. For example,
Ultimaker, its awarded as fastest and accurate 3d printer, General Electric uses the
high-end model to build parts for turbines.[56]

Consumer use

Airwolf 3D AW3D v.4 (Prusa)

Several projects and companies are making efforts to develop affordable 3D printers
for home desktop use. Much of this work has been driven by and targeted at
DIY/enthusiast/early adopter communities, with additional ties to theacademic and
hacker communities.[57]

RepRap is one of the longest running projects in the desktop category. The RepRap
project aims to produce a free and open source hardware (FOSH) 3D printer, whose
full specifications are released under the GNU General Public License, and which is
capable of replicating itself by printing many of its own (plastic) parts to create more
machines. RepRaps have already been shown to beable to print circuit boards and
metal parts.

Because of the FOSH aims of RepRap, many related projects have used their design for
inspiration, creating an ecosystem of related or derivative 3D printers, most of which
are also open source designs. The availability of these open sourcedesigns means that
variants of 3D printers are easy to invent. The quality and complexity of printer
designs, however, as well as the quality of kit or finished products, varies greatly from
project to project. This rapid development of open source 3D printers is gaining
interest in many spheres as it enables hyper- customization and the use of public
domain designs to fabricate open source appropriate technology. This technology can
also assist initiatives in sustainable development since technologies are easily and
economically made from resources available to local communities.

The cost of 3D printers has decreased dramatically since about 2010, with
machines that used to cost $20,000 now costing less than $1,000.[65] For instance,
as of 2013, several companies and individuals are selling parts to buildvarious
RepRap designs, with prices starting at about €400 / US$500. The open source
Fab@Home project has developed printers for general use with anything that can be
squirted through a nozzle, from chocolate to silicone sealant and chemical reactants.
Printers following the project's designs have been available from suppliers in kits or
in pre-assembled form since 2012 at prices in the US$2000 range. The Kickstarter
funded Peachy Printer is designed to cost
$100[68] and several other new 3D printers are aimed at the small, inexpensivemarket
including the mUVe3D and Lumifold. Rapide 3D has designed a

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professional grade crowdsourced 3D-printer costing $1499 which has no fumesnor
constant rattle during use. The 3Doodler, "3D printing pen", raised $2.3 million on
Kickstarter with the pens selling at $99, though the 3D Doodler has been criticised for
being more of a crafting pen than a 3D printer.

As the costs of 3D printers have come down they are becoming more appealing
financially to use for self-manufacturing of personal products. In addition, 3D printing
products at home may reduce the environmental impacts of manufacturing by
reducing material use and distribution impacts.
A container for recycling plastic spoons into material for 3-d printing
In addition, several RecycleBots such as the commercialised Filastruder havebeen
designed and fabricated to convert waste plastic, such as shampoo containers and
milk jugs, into inexpensive RepRap filament.There is some evidence that using this
approach of distributed recycling is better for the environment.

The development and hyper-customization of the RepRap-based 3D printers has

produced a new category of printers suitable for small business and consumer use.
Manufacturers such as Solidoodle, RoBo, RepRapPro and Pirx 3D have introduced
models and kits priced at less than $1,000, thousands less than they were in
September 2012.[56] Depending on the application, the print resolution and speed of
manufacturing lies somewhere between a personal printer and an industrial printer.
A list of printers with pricing and other information is maintained.[66] Most recently
delta robots, like the TripodMaker, have been utilised for 3D printing to increase
fabrication speed further.[75] For delta 3D printers, due to its geometry and
differentiation movements, the accuracy of theprint depends on the position of the
printer head.

Some companies are also offering software for 3D printing, as a support forhardware
manufactured by other companies.

Upreplicant home printer can build a BAAM printer, using also modularity.

Large 3D printers

Large scale industrial 3D printingLarge

delta-style 3D printer
Large 3D printers have been developed for industrial, education, and demonstrative
uses. A large delta-style 3D printer was built in 2014 by SeeMeCNC. The printer is
capable of making an object with diameter of up to 4 feet (1.2 m) and up to 10 feet
(3.0 m) in height. It also uses plastic pellets as theraw material instead of the typical
plastic filaments used in other 3D printers.

Another type of large printer is Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM). The goalis
to develop printers that can produce a large object in high speed. A BAAM machine of
Cincinnati Incorporated can produce an object at the speeds 200-500 times faster
than typical 3D printers available in 2014. Another BAAM machine is being developed
by Lockheed Martin with an aim to print long objects of up to 100 feet (30 m) to be
used in aerospace industries.

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Efficiency

CartesioLDMP mass production 3Dprinter

The current slow print speed of 3D printers limits their use for mass production. To
reduce this overhead, several fused filament machines now offer multiple extruder
heads. These can be used to print in multiple colours, with different polymers, or to
make multiple prints simultaneously. This increases their overall print speed during
multiple instance production, while requiring less capital costthan duplicate machines
since they can share a single controlle

MANUFACTURING APPLICATIONS
VLT component created using 3D printingPrinting

3D house project at Amsterdam

Three-dimensional printing makes it as cheap to create single items as it is to
produce thousands and thus undermines economies of scale. It may have as
profound an impact on the world as the coming of the factory did .............. Just as
nobody could have predicted the impact of the steam engine in 1750—or the
printing press in 1450, or the transistor in 1950—it is impossible to foresee the
long-term impact of 3D printing. But the technology is coming, and it is likely to
disrupt every field it touches.

— The Economist, in a February 10, 2011 leader[81]

Additive manufacturing's earliest applications have been on the toolroom end of the
manufacturing spectrum. For example, rapid prototyping was one of the earliest
additive variants, and its mission was to reduce the lead time and cost ofdeveloping
prototypes of new parts and devices, which was earlier only done with subtractive
toolroom methods (typically slowly and expensively).[82] With technological
advances in additive manufacturing, however, and the dissemination of those
advances into the business world, additive methods are moving ever further into the
production end of manufacturing in creative and sometimes unexpected ways.[82]
Parts that were formerly the sole province of subtractive methods can now in some
cases be made more profitably via additive ones.

Standard applications include design visualisation, prototyping/CAD, metal casting,

architecture, education, geospatial, healthcare, and entertainment/retail.

Distributed manufacturing
Main article: 3D printing marketplace
Additive manufacturing in combination with cloud computing technologies allows
decentralized and geographically independent distributed production.[83] Distributed
manufacturing as such is carried out by some enterprises; there is also a service to
put people needing 3D printing in contact with owners of printers.

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Some companies offer on-line 3D printing services to both commercial and private
customers,[85] working from 3D designs uploaded to the company website. 3D-
printed designs are either shipped to the customer or picked up fromthe service
provider.[86]

Mass customization
Companies have created services where consumers can customise objects using
simplified web based customisation software, and order the resulting items as 3D
printed unique objects.[87][88] This now allows consumers to create custom cases
for their mobile phones.[89] Nokia has released the 3D designs for its case so that
owners can customise their own case and have it 3D printed.[90]

Rapid manufacturing
Advances in RP technology have introduced materials that are appropriate for final
manufacture, which has in turn introduced the possibility of directly manufacturing
finished components. One advantage of 3D printing for rapid manufacturing lies in the
relatively inexpensive production of small numbers ofparts.

Rapid manufacturing is a new method of manufacturing and many of its processes

remain unproven. 3D printing is now entering the field of rapid manufacturing and
was identified as a "next level" technology by many expertsin a 2009 report.[91]
One of the most promising processes looks to be the adaptation of selective laser
sintering (SLS), or direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) some of the better-established
rapid prototyping methods. As of 2006, however, these techniques were still very
much in their infancy, with many obstacles to be overcome before RM could be
considered a realistic manufacturing method.

Rapid prototyping
Industrial 3D printers have existed since the early 1980s and have been used
extensively for rapid prototyping and research purposes. These are generally larger
machines that use proprietary powdered metals, casting media (e.g. sand), plastics,
paper or cartridges, and are used for rapid prototyping by universities and
commercial companies.
3D printing can be particularly useful in research labs due to its ability to make
specialised, bespoke geometries. In 2012 a proof of principle project at the University
of Glasgow, UK, showed that it is possible to use 3D printing techniques to assist in
the production of chemical compounds. They first printedchemical reaction vessels,
then used the printer to deposit reactants into them.
[93] They have produced new compounds to verify the validity of the process,but
have not pursued anything with a particular application.

Food
Cornell Creative Machines Lab announced in 2012 that it was possible to produce
customised food with 3D Hydrocolloid Printing.[94] Additative manufacturing of

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food is currently being developed by squeezing out food, layer by layer, into three-
dimensional objects. A large variety of foods are appropriate candidates, such as
chocolate and candy, and flat foods such as crackers, pasta,[95] and pizza.

Professor Leroy Cronin of Glasgow University proposed in a 2012 TED Talk that itwas
possible to use chemical inks to print medicine.

Industrial applications
Apparel
3D printing has spread into the world of clothing with fashion designers
experimenting with 3D-printed bikinis, shoes, and dresses.[98] In commercial
production Nike is using 3D printing to prototype and manufacture the 2012 Vapor
Laser Talon football shoe for players of American football, and New Balance is 3D
manufacturing custom-fit shoes for athletes.[98][99]

3D printing has come to the point where companies are printing consumer grade
eyewear with on demand custom fit and styling (although they cannot print the
lenses). On demand customization of glasses is possible with rapid prototyping.

Automobiles
In early 2014, the Swedish supercar manufacturer, Koenigsegg, announced the One:1,
a supercar that utilises many components that were 3D printed. In the limited run of
vehicles Koenigsegg produces, the One:1 has side-mirror internals,air ducts, titanium
exhaust components, and even complete turbocharger assembles that have been 3D
printed as part of the manufacturing process.

An American company, Local Motors is working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory
and Cincinnati Incorporated to develop large-scale additive manufacturing processes
suitable for printing an entire car body. The company plans to print the vehicle live in
front of an audience in September 2014 at the International Manufacturing
Technology Show. "Produced from a new fiber- reinforced thermoplastic strong
enough for use in an automotive application, thechassis and body without drivetrain,
wheels and brakes weighs a scant 450 pounds and the completed car is comprised of
just 40 components, a number that gets smaller with every revision."

Urbee is the name of the first car in the world car mounted using the technology3D
printing (his bodywork and his car windows were "printed"). Created in 2010
through the partnership between the US engineering group Kor Ecologic and the
company Stratasys (manufacturer of printers Stratasys 3D), it is a hybrid vehiclewith
futuristic look.

Construction
An additional use being developed is building printing, or using 3D printing to build
buildings. This could allow faster construction for lower costs, and has been
investigated for construction of off-Earth habitats. For example, the Sinterhab project
is researching a lunar base constructed by 3D printing using lunar regolith as a base
material. Instead of adding a binding agent to the regolith,

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researchers are experimenting with microwave sintering to create solid blocksfrom
the raw material.

Electric motors and generators

The magnetic cores of electric machines (motors and generators) require thin
laminations of special preprocessed electrical steel that are insulated from each other
to reduce core iron losses. 3D printing of any product that requires core materials
with special properties or forms that must be preserved during the manufacturing
process, such as the material density, non-crystalline or nano- crystalline atomic
structures, etc. or material isolation, may only be compatible with a hybrid 3D
printing method which does not use core material altering methods, such as sintering,
fusing, deposition, etc. Preprocessing the raw material is not an extra manufacturing
step because all 3D Printing methods require preprocessed material for compatibility
with the 3D Printing method, such as preprocessed powdered metal for deposition or
fusion 3D printing. To conveniently handle the very thin insulated laminations of
amorphous or nano- crystalline metal ribbon, which can reduce electric machine core
loss by up to 80%, the well-known Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM) method of
3D Printing may show some compatibility for 3D-Printing of electric machines but
only if the method mitigates at least the alteration of the non-crystalline structure of
the amorphous material (for instance) during the forming of slot channels for holding
the electric machine windings or during post manufacturingprocesses, such as
grinding the air-gap surface to flat precision, all while enhancing the packing density
of the material. The patented 3D Printer called MotorPrinter was specifically
conceived and developed as the only 3D Printer of axial-flux electric machine cores of
any category or type, such as induction, permanent magnet, reluctance, and Synchro-
Sym, with high performance core materials, such as amorphous metals, all while
including the construction of the integral frame and bearing assembly from raw
structural steel instead of assembled from an inventory of pre-manufactured
precision castings.
MotorPrinter solves the otherwise elusive problems of 3D Printing of electric
machines: 1) electrical material alteration as a result of cutting heat stress with
instead a method of cutting the slots before the ribbon is wrapped into the axial- flux
form; 2) imprecise alignment of slots channels when dynamically calculating the next
slot position by the number of wraps and varying ribbon thickness with instead a slot
template method that precisely aligns the remotely cut slots onto the slots of the
previous wrap without future calculations; 3) material alteration by secondary
grinding operations (for instance) for a precision flat air-gap surface with instead a
method that forces the ribbon to assume the precision flatness of the rotary table of
the 3D Printer on each wrap; and 4) fixed rectangle shaped slot channels with instead
a template method that perfectly aligns slots with any shape for optimal performance.

Firearms
In 2012, the US-based group Defense Distributed disclosed plans to "[design] a
working plastic gun that could be downloaded and reproduced by anybody with a3D
printer." Defense Distributed has also designed a 3D printable AR-15 type rifle

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lower receiver (capable of lasting more than 650 rounds) and a 30 round M16
magazine. The AR-15 has multiple receivers (both an upper and lower receiver), but
the legally controlled part is the one that is serialised (the lower, in the AR- 15's case).
Soon after Defense Distributed succeeded in designing the first working blueprint to
produce a plastic gun with a 3D printer in May 2013, the United States Department of
State demanded that they remove the instructions from their website. After Defense
Distributed released their plans, questions wereraised regarding the effects that 3D
printing and widespread consumer-level CNC machining may have on gun control
effectiveness.

In 2014, a man from Japan became the first person in the world to be imprisonedfor
making 3D printed firearms. Yoshitomo Imura posted videos and blueprints ofthe gun
online and was sentenced to jail for two years. Police found at least two guns in his
household that were capable of firing bullets.

Medical
3D printing has been used to print patient specific implant and device for medical use.
Successful operations include a titanium pelvis implanted into a British patient,
titanium lower jaw transplanted to a Belgian patient,[127] and a plastic tracheal
splint for an American infant.[128] The hearing aid and dental industries are
expected to be the biggest area of future development using the custom 3D printing
technology.[129] In March 2014, surgeons in Swansea used 3D printed parts to
rebuild the face of a motorcyclist who had been seriously injured in a road
accident.[130] Research is also being conducted on methods tobio-print
replacements for lost tissue due to arthritis and cancer.

In October 24, 2014, a five-year-old girl born without fully formed fingers on her left
hand became the first child in the UK to have a prosthetic hand made with 3D printing
technology. Her hand was designed by US-based E-nable, an open source design
organisation which uses a network of volunteers to design and make prosthetics
mainly for children. The prosthetic hand was based on a plastercast made by her
parents.

Printed prosthetics have been used in rehabilitation of crippled animals. In 2013, a 3D

printed foot let a crippled duckling walk again. In 2014 a chihuahua born without
front legs was fitted with a harness and wheels created with a 3D printer. 3D printed
hermit crab shells let hermit crabs inhabit a new style home.

As of 2012, 3D bio-printing technology has been studied by biotechnology firms and

academia for possible use in tissue engineering applications in which organs and
body parts are built using inkjet techniques. In this process, layers of living cells are
deposited onto a gel medium or sugar matrix and slowly built up to formthree-
dimensional structures including vascular systems. The first production system for 3D
tissue printing was delivered in 2009, based on NovoGen bioprinting technology.
Several terms have been used to refer to this field of research: organ printing, bio-
printing, body part printing, and computer-aided tissue engineering, among others.The
possibility of using 3D tissue printing to create soft tissue architectures for
reconstructive surgery is also being explored.

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China has committed almost $500 million towards the establishment of 10 national 3-
D printing development institutes. In 2013, Chinese scientists began printing ears,
livers and kidneys, with living tissue. Researchers in China have been able to
successfully print human organs using specialised 3D bio printers that use living cells
instead of plastic. Researchers at Hangzhou Dianzi Universityactually went as far as
inventing their own 3D printer for the complex task, dubbed the "Regenovo" which is
a "3D bio printer." Xu Mingen, Regenovo's developer, said that it takes the printer
under an hour to produce either a mini liver sample or a four to five inch ear cartilage
sample. Xu also predicted that fully functional printed organs may be possible within
the next ten to twenty years. In the same year, researchers at the University of Hasselt,
in Belgium had successfully printed a new jawbone for an 83-year-old Belgian woman.

In January 2015, it was reported that doctors at London’s St Thomas' Hospital had
used images obtained from a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan to create a 3D
printing replica of the heart of a two-year-old girl with a ‘very complex’ hole in it. They
were then able to tailor a Gore-Tex patch to effect a cure. The lead surgeon of the
operating team, Professor David Anderson, told The Sunday Times: “The 3D printing
meant we could create a model of her heart and then see the inside of it with a replica
of the hole as it looked when the heartwas pumping. We could go into the operation
with a much better idea of what wewould find”. The 3D printing technique used by the
hospital was pioneered by Dr Gerald Greil.

Computers and robots

3D printing can be used to make laptops and other computers, including cases, as
Novena and VIA OpenBook standard laptop cases. I.e. a Novena motherboardcan be
bought and be used in a printed VIA OpenBook case.

Space
In September 2014, SpaceX delivered the first zero-gravity 3-D printer to the
International Space Station (ISS). On December 19, 2014, NASA emailed CAD
drawings for a socket wrench to astronauts aboard the ISS, who then printed the tool
using its 3-D printer. Applications for space offer the ability to print broken parts or
tools on-site, as opposed to using rockets to bring along pre- manufactured items for
space missions to human colonies on the moon, Mars, orelsewhere. The European
Space Agency plans to deliver its new Portable On- Board 3D Printer (POP3D for
short) to the International Space Station by June 2015, making it the second 3D printer
in space.

Sociocultural applications

An example of 3D printed limited edition jewellery. This necklace is made of

glassfiber-filled dyed nylon. It has rotating linkages that were produced in thesame
manufacturing step as the other parts

Guardians of Time by Manfred Kielnhofer, 3D printing polished nickel steel byShapeways

2014

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Art
In 2005, academic journals had begun to report on the possible artistic applications of
3D printing technology. By 2007 the mass media followed with an article in the Wall
Street Journal[156] and Time Magazine, listing a 3D printed design among their 100
most influential designs of the year. During the 2011 London Design Festival, an
installation, curated by Murray Moss and focused on 3D Printing, was held in the
Victoria and Albert Museum (the V&A). The installation was called Industrial
Revolution 2.0: How the Material World will Newly Materialize.Some of the recent
developments in 3D printing were revealedat the 3DPrintshow in London, which took
place in November 2013 and 2014.
The art section had in exposition artworks made with 3D printed plastic and metal.
Several artists such as Joshua Harker, Davide Prete, Sophie Kahn, Helena Lukasova,
Foteini Setaki showed how 3D printing can modify aesthetic and art processes. One
part of the show focused on ways in which 3D printing can advance the medical field.
The underlying theme of these advances was that these printers can be used to create
parts that are printed with specifications to meet each individual. This makes the
process safer and more efficient. One of these advances is the use of 3D printers to
produce casts that are created to mimic the bones that they are supporting. These
custom-fitted casts are open, which allow the wearer to scratch any itches and also
wash the damaged area. Being open also allows for open ventilation. One of the best
features is that theycan be recycled to create more casts.

3D printing is becoming more popular in the customisable gifts industry, with

products such as personalised mobile phone cases and dolls, as well as 3D printed
chocolate.

The use of 3D scanning technologies allows the replication of real objects withoutthe
use of moulding techniques that in many cases can be more expensive, moredifficult,
or too invasive to be performed, particularly for precious or delicate cultural heritage
artefacts where direct contact with the moulding substances could harm the original
object's surface.

Critical making refers to the hands on productive activities that link digital
technologies to society. It is invented to bridge the gap between creative physicaland
conceptual exploration.[163] The term was popularized by Matt Ratto, an Assistant
Professor and director of the Critical Making lab in the Faculty of Information at the
University of Toronto. Ratto describes one of the main goals of critical as "to use
material forms of engagement with technologies to supplementand extend critical
reflection and, in doing so, to reconnect our lived experiences with technologies to
social and conceptual critique".[164] The main focus of critical making is open design,
which includes, in addition to 3D printing technologies, also other digital software and
hardware. People usually reference spectacular design when explaining critical
making.

Communication
Employing additive layer technology offered by 3D printing, Terahertz devices which
act as waveguides, couplers and bends have been created. The complex

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shape of these devices could not be achieved using conventional fabrication
techniques. Commercially available professional grade printer EDEN 260V was used
to create structures with minimum feature size of 100 µm. The printed structures were
later DC sputter coated with gold (or any other metal) to create aTerahertz Plasmonic
Device.

Domestic use
As of 2012, domestic 3D printing was mainly practised by hobbyists and enthusiasts,
and was little used for practical household applications. A workingclock was
made[168] and gears were printed for home woodworking machinesamong other
purposes.[169] 3D printing was also used for ornamental objects.Web sites
associated with home 3D printing tended to include backscratchers, coathooks,
doorknobs etc.

The open source Fab@Home project has developed printers for general use. Theyhave
been used in research environments to produce chemical compounds with 3D
printing technology, including new ones, initially without immediate application as
proof of principle. The printer can print with anything that can be dispensed from a
syringe as liquid or paste. The developers of the chemical application envisage both
industrial and domestic use for this technology, including enabling users in remote
locations to be able to produce their own medicine or household chemicals.

3D printing is now working its way into households and more and more children are
being introduced to the concept of 3D printing at earlier ages. The prospectsof 3D
printing are growing and as more people have access to this new innovation, new
uses in households will emerge.

Education and research

3D printing, and open source RepRap 3D printers in particular, are the latest
technology making inroads into the classroom. 3D printing allows students to create
prototypes of items without the use of expensive tooling required in subtractive
methods. Students design and produce actual models they can hold.The classroom
environment allows students to learn and employ new applications for 3D printing.
RepRaps, for example, have already been used for an educational mobile robotics
platform.

Some authors have claimed that RepRap 3D printers offer an unprecedented

"revolution" in STEM education. The evidence for such claims comes from both the
low cost ability for rapid prototyping in the classroom by students, but also the
fabrication of low-cost high-quality scientific equipment from open hardware designs
forming open-source labs. Engineering and design principles are explored as well as
architectural planning. Students recreate duplicates of museum items such as fossils
and historical artifacts for study in the classroom without possibly damaging
sensitive collections. Other students interested in graphic designing can construct
models with complex working parts. 3D printinggives students a new perspective
with topographic maps. Science students can study cross-sections of internal organs
of the human body and other biological

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specimens. And chemistry students can explore 3D models of molecules and the
relationship within chemical compounds.

Environmental use
In Bahrain, large-scale 3D printing using a sandstone-like material has been usedto
create unique coral-shaped structures, which encourage coral polyps to colonise and
regenerate damaged reefs. These structures have a much more natural shape than
other structures used to create artificial reefs, and, unlike concrete, are neither acid
nor alkaline with neutral pH.

Intellectual property
3D printing has existed for decades within certain manufacturing industries where
many legal regimes, including patents, industrial design rights, copyright, and
trademark may apply. However, there is not much jurisprudence to say how these
laws will apply if 3D printers become mainstream and individuals and hobbyist
communities begin manufacturing items for personal use, for non-profitdistribution,
or for sale.

Any of the mentioned legal regimes may prohibit the distribution of the designs used
in 3D printing, or the distribution or sale of the printed item. To be allowed to do these
things, where an active intellectual property was involved, a person would have to
contact the owner and ask for a licence, which may come with conditions and a price.
However, many patent, design and copyright laws containa standard limitation or
exception for 'private', 'non-commercial' use of inventions, designs or works of art
protected under intellectual property (IP).
That standard limitation or exception may leave such private, non-commercialuses
outside the scope of IP rights.

Patents cover inventions including processes, machines, manufactures, and

compositions of matter and have a finite duration which varies between countries,
but generally 20 years from the date of application. Therefore, if a type of wheel is
patented, printing, using, or selling such a wheel could be aninfringement of the
patent.

Copyright covers an expression in a tangible, fixed medium and often lasts for the
life of the author plus 70 years thereafter. If someone makes a statue, theymay have
copyright on the look of that statue, so if someone sees that statue, they cannot then
distribute designs to print an identical or similar statue.

When a feature has both artistic (copyrightable) and functional (patentable) merits,
when the question has appeared in US court, the courts have often held the feature is
not copyrightable unless it can be separated from the functional aspects of the item. In
other countries the law and the courts may apply a different approach allowing, for
example, the design of a useful device to be registered (as a whole) as an industrial
design on the understanding that, in caseof unauthorised copying, only the non-
functional features may be claimed under design law whereas any technical features
could only be claimed if covered by a valid patent.

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Gun legislation and administration
The US Department of Homeland Security and the Joint Regional Intelligence Center
released a memo stating that "significant advances in three-dimensional (3D) printing
capabilities, availability of free digital 3D printable files for firearmscomponents, and
difficulty regulating file sharing may present public safety risksfrom unqualified gun
seekers who obtain or manufacture 3D printed guns," and that "proposed legislation
to ban 3D printing of weapons may deter, but cannot completely prevent their
production. Even if the practice is prohibited by new legislation, online distribution of
these 3D printable files will be as difficult to control as any other illegally traded
music, movie or software files."

Internationally, where gun controls are generally tighter than in the United States,
some commentators have said the impact may be more strongly felt, as alternative
firearms are not as easily obtainable. European officials have noted that producing a
3D printed gun would be illegal under their gun control laws, and that criminals have
access to other sources of weapons, but noted that as the technology improved the
risks of an effect would increase. Downloads of theplans from the UK, Germany, Spain,
and Brazil were heavy.

Attempting to restrict the distribution over the Internet of gun plans has been
likened to the futility of preventing the widespread distribution of DeCSS which
enabled DVD ripping. After the US government had Defense Distributed take down
the plans, they were still widely available via The Pirate Bay and other file sharing
sites. Some US legislators have proposed regulations on 3D printers, to prevent
them being used for printing guns. 3D printing advocates have suggested that such
regulations would be futile, could cripple the 3D printing industry, and could infringe
on free speech rights, with early pioneer of 3D printing Professor Hod Lipson
suggesting that gunpowder could be controlled instead.

CONCLUSION
3D printing is not just an fancy tenchnology anymore. It will impact our lives in a big
way and drastically solve many problems of our society and multiple disciplines. Apart
from manufacturing, the most defining impact we have seen tillnow is in healthcare
and education. Soon, 3D printing will part of the mainstream

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technologies and will be used by consumers in a large scale. It’s our duty and
responsibility to use this technology to the best of mankind and prevent its misuse. Its
time we embrace and learn even more about 3D printing.

REFERENCES
1. www.google.com
2. www.wikipedia.com
3. www.mashable.com
4. www.3dprinting.com

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