SEMINAR REPORT ON

3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY

Submitted by –

Rissi P. Panda
1104185 E&TC 4
School of Electronics
KIIT University
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that seminar entitled ‘3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY’ is delivered and report is
submitted by Rissi Prasanna Panda, bearing Roll No. 1104185 of eight semester for partial fulfillment
of requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Telecommunication
Engineering at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology during the academic year 2014-2015.

Prof K. Parvathi Rissi Prasanna Panda

Seminar Guide Student

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I, Rissi Prasanna Panda, would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my seminar guide, Prof K.
Parvathi who has been very instrumental in guiding me with the seminar ideation and presentation. I
would like to acknowledge the help by other faculty of our department and peers of my batch.

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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
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

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 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. These objects 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 techniques such 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.

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 their common 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 used in 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 to rapid 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.

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 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, and their 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.

In 2005, a rapidly expanding hobbyist and home-use market was established with 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 cup or a funnel), a person might instead print it at home from a
downloaded 3D model.

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 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 can then 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 can be
used to fix these errors are netfabb and Meshmixer, or even Cura, or Slic3r.

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.

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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 100 µm
(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 few hours, 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 manufacturing can be faster, more flexible and less
expensive when producing relatively small quantities of parts. 3D printers give designers and
concept development teams the ability to produce parts and concept models using a desktop size
printer.

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 can achieve greater precision.

Some printable polymers allow the surface finish to be smoothed and improved using 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 or dissolved 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 the GMAW 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 the materials that are used. Some methods

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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]

Type Technologies Materials

Thermoplastics (e.g. PLA, ABS, HIPS,
Fused deposition Nylon), HDPE, eutectic metals, edible
modeling(FDM) or Fused materials, Rubber (Sugru), Modeling
Extrusion Filament Fabrication (FFF) clay, Plasticine, RTV silicone, Porcelain, Metal
clay (including Precious Metal Clay)
Ceramic materials, Metal alloy, cermet, metal matrix
Robocasting
composite, ceramic matrix composite
Electron Beam Freeform
Wire Almost any metal alloy
Fabrication (EBF3)
Direct metal laser
Almost any metal alloy
sintering(DMLS)
Electron-beam
Almost any metal alloy including Titanium alloys
melting (EBM)
Selective laser Titanium alloys, Cobalt Chrome alloys, Stainless
Granular
melting (SLM) Steel, Aluminium
Selective heat
Thermoplastic powder
sintering (SHS)[32]
Selective laser
Thermoplastics, metal powders, ceramic powders
sintering (SLS)
Powder bed
and inkjet Plaster-based 3D printing
Plaster
head 3D (PP)
printing
Laminated object
Laminated Paper, metal foil, plastic film
manufacturing (LOM)

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 Stereolithography (SLA) photopolymer
Digital Light
Light photopolymer
Processing (DLP)
polymerised
Continuous Liquid Interface UV light causes photo polymerization of resin while
Production (CLIP) also using oxygen inhibitor via porous lens

Extrusion deposition

Fused deposition modeling: 1 – nozzle ejecting molten plastic, 2 – deposited material (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 since its 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 shred and 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 they would be unsupported during the build.
Otherwise, a thin support must be designed into the structure which can be broken away during
finishing.

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Binding of granular materials

The CandyFab granular printing system uses heated air and granulated sugar to produce food-grade
art objects
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 for
temporary 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 Deckard and 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 create fully 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 parts are 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. This is repeated until every layer has been printed. This
technology allows the printing of full color prototypes, overhangs, and elastomer parts. The strength
of bonded 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 cross sections 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 selective deposition of adhesive and pressure to bond
the prototype.

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

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Photopolymerization

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 angles and 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 to light. 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 is an example of a DLP rapid prototyping system.

Inkjet printer systems like the Objet PolyJet system spray photopolymer materials onto 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
support material, 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 by a 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 thin layers, 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 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

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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
researchers from 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, such as 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] Two different 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 cartridges are 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 as 10 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 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]

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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 the academic 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 be able 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 source designs 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 build various 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, inexpensive
market including the mUVe3D and Lumifold. Rapide 3D has designed a professional grade
crowdsourced 3D-printer costing $1499 which has no fumes nor 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 have been designed and
fabricated to convert waste plastic, such as shampoo containers and milk jugs, into inexpensive

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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 the print depends on the position of the printer head.

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

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

Large 3D printers

Large scale industrial 3D printing

Large 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
the raw material instead of the typical plastic filaments used in other 3D printers.

Another type of large printer is Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM). The goal is 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.

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
cost than duplicate machines since they can share a single controlle

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 MANUFACTURING APPLICATIONS
VLT component created using 3D printing

Printing 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 of developing 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.

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 from the 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]

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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 of parts.

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 experts in 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
printed chemical 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 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 it was 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]

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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, the chassis 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 technology 3D 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 vehicle with 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,
researchers are experimenting with microwave sintering to create solid blocks from 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

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material (for instance) during the forming of slot channels for holding the electric machine windings
or during post manufacturing processes, 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 a 3D printer." Defense Distributed has
also designed a 3D printable AR-15 type rifle 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 were raised 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 imprisoned for making 3D
printed firearms. Yoshitomo Imura posted videos and blueprints of the 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 to bio-print replacements for lost tissue due to arthritis and cancer.

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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
plaster cast 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 form three-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.

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 University actually
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 heart was pumping. We could go into the operation
with a much better idea of what we would 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 motherboard can be bought and be used in a printed
VIA OpenBook case.

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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, or elsewhere. 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 the same manufacturing step as the other parts

Guardians of Time by Manfred Kielnhofer, 3D printing polished nickel steel by Shapeways 2014

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 revealed at 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 they can
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 without the use of
moulding techniques that in many cases can be more expensive, more difficult, 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.

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Critical making refers to the hands on productive activities that link digital technologies to society. It
is invented to bridge the gap between creative physical and 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 supplement and 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 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 a Terahertz
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 working clock was made[168] and gears were printed
for home woodworking machines among 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. They have 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 prospects of 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.

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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 printing gives students a new perspective with topographic maps. Science
students can study cross-sections of internal organs of the human body and other biological
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 used to 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-
profit distribution, 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
contain a 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-commercial uses 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
an infringement 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, they may 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

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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 case of 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.

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 firearms components, and difficulty regulating file sharing may
present public safety risks from 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 the plans 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.

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 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 till now is in healthcare and education. Soon, 3D printing will
part of the mainstream 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.

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

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