Types of 3D Printing Technology

Discuss about the Rapid Prototyping of Structural Electronics.

A ten years old medium size organization is looking for adaptation of 3D printing technology in their organization (Anonymous, 2014). The head office of this is firm is located in Melbourne, Australia. At present the organization handles both kinds of clients that is corporate as well as retail. The organization has various kinds of it retails branches in Australia. Currently this organization is more focused in handling various kinds of computers and printers for large number of business in Victoria, Australia. The organization is planning to expand its business in next five years in the other regions of the world. CEO is mainly focused to implement 3D printing technology after understanding its uses in manufacturing industry. 3D printing technology can be considered as a useful technology which can help this organization in expanding their business. 3D printing technology can be considered as an adaptive kind of technology which has been developed in the year of 1980, which is known to be useful for manufacturing three dimensional objects (France, & Safari, an O’Reilly Media Company, 2013). Additive manufacturing generally creates a platform where various kinds of materials can be easily fused together inform of layers for materials. 3D printing can be easily achieved by the help of fused deposition modelling (FDM). This particular process can be used like single nozzle which can be used for extruding melted materials management.

The coming pages of the report mainly deals with 3D technology and its application in various fields. Three important application of 3D technology has been discussed in details in forth coming pages. Apart from this various benefits and drawbacks of 3D technology has been discussed in details. In the end a list of recommendation for 3D technology has been discussed in brief.

Additive manufacturing (AM) can be defined as a kind of manufacturing process which mainly deposits various materials in layer by layer form for building a tangible product.  The most common type of additive manufacturing is 3D printing (Cesaretti et al., 2014). This particular technology tends to be third revolution because it provides new and expanding technical and social kind of effect. There are mainly five kinds of 3D printing technology like stereo-lithography (SLA), Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM), SLS technology, Digital light processing (DLP) and lastly continuous liquid interface production.

Fused Deposition Modelling Technology (FDM): In this particular process a plastic or wax material is provided by the help of nozzle which mainly traces a part of cross-sectional geometrical areas (Gross et al., 2014). FDM technology just comes after stereolithography and holds a second position in the list. In this particular technology a plastic filament is generally wounded in the form of coil and supporting material for an extrusion nozzle. The nozzle can be easily heated for melting the plastic and a proper kind of mechanism is there which helps in flow of plastic which is turned on and off as per the requirement.

Practical Applications of 3D Printing Technology

SLS Technology: This particular technology was developed at the university of Texas which is in Austin. This particular technology was patented in 1989 and was originally sold by DTM corporation. In this technology thermoplastic powder is mainly spread by the help of roller on the surface of building cylinder (Hoang et al., 2015). After that the piston moves in such a way that one object of layer thickness can easily accommodate the next layer of thickness. After that the piston moves upward in an incremental way which can be used for measuring the quantity of power for each kind of layer which is provided.

Stereolithography (SLA): This particular technology is widely or mainly used in rapid prototyping technology. It can easily produce high or accurate and detail parts of polymer. It is mainly considered as a first or rapid kind of process which was introduced in the year of 1988 by 3D systems (Horne, & Safari, an O’Reilly Media Company, 2016). Stereolithography technology mainly builds plastic parts or object is a layer at a particular time by properly tracing a proper kind of laser beam which is mainly present on the surface of objects of liquid photopolymer. The self-adhesive kind of material mainly causes each kind of succeeding layer which can be used for bonding to the previous layer.

Digital Light processing (DLP) Technology: This particular technology is considered to be well-known which is mainly used in various kinds of photopolymer resin (Jové et al., 2017). It is mainly considered to be similar technology which is used in UV laser that can be used for curing various kinds of photopolymer resins. It mainly results in creation of a huge amount of space that is present in bottom of various containers.

Continuous Liquid Interface Production: This particular technology is considered like a method which can be easily used for proper projection of lager number of sequence which totally depends on images of ultraviolet rays (Micallef, & Safari, an O’Reilly Media Company, 2015). It is mainly generated by the help of digital light by the help of oxygen based window that is transparent in outlook.

Aerospace: NASA engineers are focused about this new and advance 3D technology. In this technology 70 percent is done like a make up for the cover which is built in digital nature. It mainly displays messages direct from the computers design (McMenamin et al., 2014). In this technology heated chamber is considered for the production of grade Stratasty of 3D printers. On the contrary, fused deposition modelling (FDM) technology or additive kind of manufacturing generally creates complex kinds of shapes which is considered to be much durable in shape (Macdonald et al., 2014). For its parts, NASA makes use of three kinds of materials like ABS, polycarbonate materials and PCABS. FDM which is a well-known kind of 3D printing technology mainly supports production of grade thermoplastics. It is considered to be lightweight along with durability that can be easily used in rugged kinds of end user’s parts.

Benefits and Drawbacks of 3D Printing Technology

Dental Industry: APEX which is a dental milling centre is considered to be one of the earlier adopters of CAM technology. This particular technology makes use of CAD design for producing various kinds of dental parts (Macdonald et al., 2014). The firm took up a decision in which instead of switching products to CNC milling techniques the organization depend on 3D printing. APEX dental Miling centre is more focused to provide products at much lower cost along with maintaining high standard of products. APEX Dental Miling centre is considered to be very much worthwhile 3D solution for printing. It comes up with better kind of advantage like better products, small processing time or more kind of accuracy. This particular organization come with idea that 3D printing technology is more advantageous in nature (Park et al., 2015). APEX Dental Milling centre was highly impressed with the speed of the object of 3D printing system. The printing models mainly produced a fine kinds of objects which claims to provide outstanding kind of surface finish products management.

Consumer products: This particular technology can easily produce various kinds of models which comes with thin walls of thickness 0.6m or even less than that. It mainly comes up with idea for large number of small devices that can be easily packed with minute kinds of components (Radenkovic, Solouk & Seifalian, 2016). Smoothly finished and realistic colors can be easily used by this model which is considered to be virtually indistinguishable from large number of end products. Generally, prototype need a proper combination both flexible and rigid products. For example, hard shell of helmet and padded mirror are considered as some of the examples of 3D technology. So only poly-jet technology can be used for producing prototype with multiple kinds of materials and colors which is mainly build in an automated way. So ideal kind of sporting good can be easily used for dealing with large number of designers of sports goods that can be used with an eye for aesthetics values (Woo Lee & Cho, 2015). FDM technology mainly works with the idea or production of thermoplastics that can be easily used for producing parts which comes up with high impact on durability and have high value of impact. It generally tends to be perfect for large number of components which is used for withstanding tough and high value of functional testing. For proper capturing of look and feel of the products only poly-jet can easily deliver various kinds of fine details, textures which are playful in nature, varied materials along with vivid colours which are presented in single and automated process which are build.

Recommendations for Adapting 3D Printing Technology

Manufacturing: 3D printing technology is mainly used for manufacturing of large number of products in an easy and convenient way. With the help of this particular technology one can manufacture a large number of products as per the requirement. Various objects can be easily printed as the help of this technology (Youssef et al. 2015). This can be a great platform where an individual can easily create products which are customizable. It will also allow oneself to create design in 3D and after them getting printed.

Customization: A great advantage of 3D printing is that with help of raw materials, blueprint and 3D printer an individual can easily design can be done (Lee et al., 2016). It is mainly used for analysing the fact how complex can a design be.

 Constant prototyping and increasing productivity: 3D printing technology mainly helps in quick production of large number of things with large number of prototypes or small version of real kinds of objects instead of making use of conventional methods (Shim et al., 2014). It mainly helps the designers for improvising for improving the prototype of any kinds of flaws that will ultimately affect the quality of large number of products.

Affordability: Initial cost which is involved in setting up for 3D printers generally compared to be much high and cheaper kind of labour cost and manufacturing cost which is used in a conventional way (Zhang et al. 2015). Along with this the fact of cost of production or manufacturing of products by making use of 3D technology is considered to be much equal for small scale and manufacturing in large mass.

Storage: Traditional kind of manufacturing mainly produces various kinds of additional products which mainly results in various kinds of problems related to problem of storage (Zhang et al. 2015). Where in the 3D printing technology various kinds of desired products can be easily printed when various kinds of excess products are eliminated so no kind of issue of storage cost comes into action.

Employment opportunities: The increased use of 3D technology has ultimately led to increase demand of large number of engineers who can easily design and manufacture the printers (Kloski, 2016). Various kinds of jobs for both technicians and designers will be created and this will ultimately help in creation of more number of jobs.

HealthCare: With the development of technology customizable human body parts and organs can be easily manufactured by the help of technology known as Bio-printing (Kloski, 2016). But at present experiment is ongoing and so the potential can be huge. The breakthrough is not huge but will also result in shortage of various organ donors.

Decrease in number of jobs: Decrease in the number of manufacturing jobs will ultimately affect the economy of any country round the globe. As the economy of country generally depends on the number of low skilled jobs. 

Limited Size: Size of objects which are created with the help of 3D printers at present is considered to be limited. In the upcoming future large number of items like architectural structure can be easily created by the help of 3D printing.

Limited Raw Material: Traditional kind of manufacturing of various kinds of products comes up with enormous value of raw materials which can be used ultimately. 3D printers can easily work beyond the provided limited (Zhang et al. 2015). Various kinds of large bodies like architectural structure can be easily treated with the help of 3D printing technology.

Violation of Copyright: The biggest kind of disadvantage which can be gathered in 3D printing is its counterfeiting. Any person who gets hold of blueprint can easily counterfeit a large number of objects. It will ultimately become more common to tracing of large number of source for the counterfeited objects. It will ultimately become much common and tracing of large number of objects (Zhang et al. 2015). Various kinds of copyright people round the globe generally come with hard time which can be used for protecting the business rights.

Production and Development of Items: With the help of 3D printing technology various kinds of things like plastic knives, guns and other kinds of dangerous and hazardous materials can be easily created (Kloski, 2016).  So, this technology will be considered much easier for various terrorists and criminals to bring various kinds of weapons for any kind of affect large population without itself being detected.

Along with the advantages of 3D printing technology, this will have certain number of flaws and issues in near future and possible steps must be taken for tackling the catastrophe.

Conclusion

The above discussion concludes to the fact that this report is all about 3D printing technology. 3D technology is developing technology which will have significant importance and use in the upcoming future. Various kinds of processes of 3D printers will ultimately reduce the time which is taken by designers and engineers to create and look for prototypes. 3D printing which ultimately catch on the manufacturing industry. It will ultimately be seen or encountered by large number of companies as it results in upgrade of technology and everyday decision of business. Some of the most profitable areas of 3D technology are medical use, replacement of various customer parts and lastly customizable products. In this technology various kinds of materials generally move and down we can easily imagine the importance of 3D technology. The biggest zone of growth of 3D technology is the field of medical. Various medical researchers round the globe are moving to the idea for creation of artificial bones by the help of 3D printers. In the above pages of the report various kinds of 3D technology like fused deposition modelling technology, SLS technology, Stereolithography, Digital light processing technology (DLP), Continuous interface production has been discussed in details. After that various kinds of application of 3D technology like Aerospace, dental industry, consumer products have been discussed in details. Various advantages of 3D printing technology like manufacturing, customization, prototyping, affordability, storage, employment opportunities and healthcare has been discussed in details. Different drawbacks of 3D printing technology like decrease in the number of jobs, limited size, limited number of raw materials, violating copyright, development and production of large number of items. In the end of report, a list of recommendation has been provided so overcoming various issues in this organization.

 This medium size organization should implement 3D printing technology as it can easily provide a large number of benefits like

• The firm should come up with idea of implementing 3D printing as it is ecofriendly in nature.
• This technology is customizable which can easily various kinds of benefit to this medium size organization.
• This technology will create a large number of employment opportunities for Australian citizen.
• 3D printing technology can easily increase the overall productivity of the organization.

References

Anonymous. (2014). 3D printing goes nanoscale. Nature, 507(7492), 277.

Cesaretti, G., Dini, E., De Kestelier, X., Colla, V., & Pambaguian, L. (2014). Building components for an outpost on the Lunar soil by means of a novel 3D printing technology. Acta Astronautica, 93, 430-450.Dean, N. L., Ewan, C., & McIndoe, J. S. (2016). Applying Hand-Held 3D Printing Technology to the Teaching of VSEPR Theory.

France, A., & Safari, an O’Reilly Media Company. (2013). Make: 3D Printing (1st ed.). Sebastopol, [Calif]: Maker Media.

Gross, B. C., Erkal, J. L., Lockwood, S. Y., Chen, C., & Spence, D. M. (2014). Evaluation of 3D printing and its potential impact on biotechnology and the chemical sciences.

Hoang, L. N., Thompson, G. A., Cho, S. H., Berzins, D. W., & Ahn, K. W. (2015). Die spacer thickness reproduction for central incisor crown fabrication with combined computer-aided design and 3D printing technology: An in vitro study. Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, 113(5), 398-404.

Horne, R., & Safari, an O’Reilly Media Company. (2016). Mastering Desktop 3D Printing with Simplify3D (1st ed.).

Jové, P., Verdum, M., Sánchez, C., Castro, J., & Lladó, J. (2017). Revaluation of Catalan Low Quality Cork as Feedstock for the Additive 3D Printing Technology. Materials Research Proceedings, 3.Kelly, J., & Safari, an O’Reilly Media Company. (2013). 3D Printing: Build Your Own 3D Printer and Print Your Own 3D Objects (1st ed.). Indianapolis, Ind.: Que.

Kloski, L., Kloski, Nick, & Safari, an O’Reilly Media Company. (2016). Getting Started with 3D Printing (1st ed.).

Lee, J. Y., Tan, W. S., An, J., Chua, C. K., Tang, C. Y., Fane, A. G., & Chong, T. H. (2016). The potential to enhance membrane module design with 3D printing technology. Journal of Membrane Science, 499, 480-490.

Macdonald, E., Salas, R., Espalin, D., Perez, M., Aguilera, E., Muse, D., & Wicker, R. B. (2014). 3D printing for the rapid prototyping of structural electronics. IEEE Access, 2, 234-242

McMenamin, P. G., Quayle, M. R., McHenry, C. R., & Adams, J. W. (2014). The production of anatomical teaching resources using three?dimensional (3D) printing technology. Anatomical sciences education, 7(6), 479-486.

Micallef, J., & Safari, an O’Reilly Media Company. (2015). Beginning Design for 3D Printing (1st ed., Technology in action series).

Park, J. Y., Shim, J. H., Choi, S. A., Jang, J., Kim, M., Lee, S. H., & Cho, D. W. (2015). 3D printing technology to control BMP-2 and VEGF delivery spatially and temporally to promote large-volume bone regeneration. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 3(27), 5415-5425.

Radenkovic, D., Solouk, A., & Seifalian, A. (2016). Personalized development of human organs using 3D printing technology. Medical hypotheses, 87, 30-33.

Shim, J. H., Yoon, M. C., Jeong, C. M., Jang, J., Jeong, S. I., Cho, D. W., & Huh, J. B. (2014). Efficacy of rhBMP-2 loaded PCL/PLGA/β-TCP guided bone regeneration membrane fabricated by 3D printing technology for reconstruction of calvaria defects in rabbit. Biomedical materials, 9(6), 065006.

Woo Lee, J., & Cho, D. W. (2015). 3D printing technology over a drug delivery for tissue engineering. Current pharmaceutical design, 21(12), 1606-1617.

Youssef, R. F., Spradling, K., Yoon, R., Dolan, B., Chamberlin, J., Okhunov, Z., … & Landman, J. (2015). Applications of three?dimensional printing technology in urological practice. BJU international, 116(5), 697-702.

Zhang, B., Linnér, P., Karnfelt, C., Tarn, P. L., Södervall, U., & Zirath, H. (2015, December). Attempt of the metallic 3D printing technology for millimeter-wave antenna implementations. In Microwave Conference (APMC), 2015 Asia-Pacific (Vol. 2, pp. 1-3). IEEE.