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3-D Printing


Source: PX


3-D printing or additive manufacturing, its technical name, has been one of the most promising technologies since the 1980s and 1990s, when it was first developed.


It was created by MIT Professor of mechanical engineering Emanuel Sachs. He invented a process known as binder jet printing, where an inkjet print head “selectively drops a liquid binder material into a powder bed — creating a three-dimensional object layer by layer.” Sachs named this process 3-D printing, remembering his father, a publisher, and their visits to printing presses during his childhood.


3-D printing evolved into the field known today as additive manufacturing, which includes diverse layer-based production technologies. This field has exploded over the last three decades and the production of countless products might be affected in the future.


Prototyping and modelling have been one of the most widely exploited successful applications of 3-D printing, a true game changer.


“You can now create dozens of designs in CAD, input them into a 3-D printer, and in a matter of hours you have all your prototypes,” adds Maria Yang, professor of mechanical engineering and director of MIT’s Ideation Laboratory. “It gives you a level of design exploration that simply wasn’t possible before.”


But there are still a number of hurdles to overcome, such as making expensive industrial 3-D printers widely available.


Another hurdle is adapting 3-D technologies to the characteristics of different materials.


John Hart, director of MIT´s Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity, has focused on a 3-D compatible process, “extrusion”, where plastic is melted and squeezed through a nozzle in a print head to the new technologies. The result has been a new printer, 10 times faster than existing printers. This allows for a gear to be printed in 5-10 minutes rather than 2 hours.


Printing metals is a different matter, as precise quality control is essential. Metal 3-D printed objects can easily crack and have flaws because of the large temperature changes suffered during the process. The quest for solutions includes embedding quality control within the printers, and advanced simulations that can predict problems.


Hart´s colleague Nicholas Xuanlai Fang is working at the frontiers of the technology and applying it at a nano scale. As a PhD student he studied a more efficient way to produce the microsensors and micropumps used for drug delivery.


Before 3-D printing it would take years to get a few small wafers. He applied the precision of optical technology to 3-D printing (stereolithography) with astonishing results. These include


a new class of 3-D printed metamaterials using projection micro-stereolithography. These materials are composed of complex structures and geometries. Unlike most solid materials, the metamaterials don’t expand with heat and don’t shrink with cold.


At the opposite end of the scale we find attempts to use 3-D printing to build houses. A technology that has been used for a while in China, a Dutch couple is said to be the first people to move into a 3-D printed house in Europe.


3-D printing is also been considered for future settlements on other planets. The Marsha Project, designed by AI Space Factory, and endorsed by NASA, is a 3-D printed house that looks like a beehive, and is intended for the surface of Mars.


Ethical concerns


There are very real concerns about non-desirable items that can be printed outside of governmental control using 3-D printers. For example, in 2013, an anarchist from Texas printed the world´s first functional gun, causing great concerns that have only grown, as these guns are undetectable by traditional metal detectors and can be printed at home or small workshops.


The future of 3-D printing


We consider it very likely that in coming decades, let us say by 2030, 3-D printing is likely to alter the value-chain in many industries.


As 3-D printers evolve and become widely available, production of many items may migrate to local printing sites, at least in the developed world. Value is likely to shift to the design process, and customers are likely to buy existing designs, adapt them to their specific needs and take them to a nearby printing site (or rather send them via internet), for pick-up or delivery. Thereby, the value-chain will be significantly shortened. Who will ultimately benefit? Has technology shown a real power to produce more jobs than it destroys? Welcome to the future!


Harry Costin


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