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The Framework of the Breakthroughs in the 3D Printing Technique

Bhasha Sharma* and Shashank Shekhar

Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

Abstract

A rapidly emerging 3D printing technology was poised to revolutionize research and manufacturing and has become an imperative tool in numerous fields. There is plenty of contrivances in the 3D printing world to be exhilarated about- it's a veritable ferocious west of opportunities. The resolution, fabrication speed, and available matrix should be contemplated in the 3D printing process which depends on the end-use application. 3D printing has become unpretentiously dominant and is employed to refer to the combination of additive manufacturing techniques. This indagation will cast light on the evolution, development, and fundamentals of 3D printing technology. This exploration bestows elementary comprehension on novel 3D printing materials like ceramics, composites, biomaterials, polymers, and smart materials, etc. Nevertheless, this technology is an integral segment of the multi-process system to emulate the burgeoning of novel materials. 3D printing technology has consequently emanated in an enormous outburst of innovations in copious sectors. The world of tomorrow might be very feasible to be pioneered with 3D-printed, electronics, cars, drones, doorknobs, planes, and all categories of products we either never came across or were never affordable, available, and customizable.

Keywords: 3D printing, polymers, additive manufacturing, biopolymers

Acronyms

ABS

Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene

AM

Additive Manufacturing

CAD

Computer Aided Design

CNT

Carbon Nanotubes

FDA

Food Development Authority

FDM

Fused Deposition Modelling

RP

Rapid Prototyping

PE

Polyethylene

PEEK

Polyetheretheketone

PC

Polycarbonate

PCL

Polycaprolactone

PGA

Polyglycolic Acid

PLA

Polylactic Acid

PMMA

Poly Methyl Methacrylate

PP

Polypropylene

PVA

Poly (vinyl alcohol)

SFF

Solid Free Form

SLS

Selective Laser Printing

STL

Stereolithography

1.1 Outlook: From Cradle to Grave

Despite the colossal progression that has been made, the diminution nature of conventional manufacturing processes has diverse limitations that have eventually navigated an avant-garde paradigm in manufacturing, i.e., additive manufacturing (AM), now generally referred as 3D printing technology. 3D printing has turned into a broad amalgamation of additive-based technologies that operate on the credo of fabricating objects from layer by layer, bit by bit, bottom-up in comparison to top-down by removing excess material to attain the final product. The maneuvering of 3D printing technology for manufacturing and rapid tooling has harbingered to generate complex-geometry components based on computer designs. The 3D printing basic functions were first described in 1964 by Arthur C. Clarke (sci-fi author). It is also referred to as rapid prototyping (RP), additive manufacturing, and solid free form (SFF), which is a process of amalgamation of materials to produce objects from 3D model data through layer-by-layer deposition [1], described by Charles Hull in 1986 [2] displayed in Figure 1.1. Hideo Kodama in 1981 at Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute produced his functional rapid prototyping account employing photopolymers. The printed and solid material was fabricated in layers that correspond to the cross-sectional slice in a model. After 3 years, Charles Hull in 1984 invented stereolithography (history of 3D printing). Stereolithography generates 3D models by employing digital data which can be utilized to make tangible objects. In 1986, Hull established and developed the 3D systems. STL file format facilitates electronic handshake from computer-aided design (CAD) software by transferring files for printing of 3D components. Afterward, Hull and his team continued to innovate the first 3D printer system which was referred to as the "stereolithography apparatus" and the first 3D printer commercially available to the public which was SLA-250. In 1990, Scott crump at Stratasys developed and patented fused deposition modeling (FDM) [3]. The first apparatus in 1993 termed 3D printer patented by Michael Cima and Emanuel Sachs in MIT was able to print ceramics, metals, and plastics [4]. In 1999, the first 3D-printed organ in humans was implanted at Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Scientists printed a human bladder, a synthetic bladder which was coated with the patient's cells. This regenerative tissue was implanted into the body with extremely no chances of rejection into the immune system due to the attachment of the patient's body cells. Dr. Adrian Bowyer in 2005 launched an open-source project to produce a 3D printer which could fundamentally build itself or able to print most of its part. Presently, 3D printing is being employed in nearly every single industry, with innumerable applications in trade, food, toys art, implants, aircraft parts, fashion items, orbital transportation, etc. [5].

Figure 1.1 Evolution of 3D printing.

Box 1: History of additive manufacturing

The technique facilitates fabrication of structure layer by layer deposition process which is revolutionizing industry owing to its capability to acquire near net shape products with almost no material waste. A foremost key feature is based on solidification and melting is the elementary employment of elementary knowledge evolved by decades of research on welding technologies classified into laser and electron beam. The industrial applications utilize laser beam systems which produces parts with good dimensions, surface finish and precision under pertinent process control [6-8]. Nevertheless, electron beam systems tend to produce sound parts having remarkable mechanical properties as the process is evolved at a uniform high temperature under vacuum chamber which helps in decreasing the residual stresses formed during layer deposition process. Both laser and electron systems require high expensive costs. Therefore, additive manufacturing process with plasma and electric arc are allocated to produce manufacturing of large parts.

Additive manufacturing can be categorized into six diverse eras. The first era, i.e., late 1970s to early 1980s, is referred to frontrunner examples which could be defined as Proto Additive Manufacturing. The second era started in the middle of 1980s to 1990s which referred to the initial introduction and development of foundation 3D-printed technologies with the founding of the first 3D-printed technology which remains a major industry competitor until now. The third era, started from 1990 to 2005, designates the maturation of 3D printing within indigenous private firms, the conception of ancillary major 3D printing technologies together with tandem advancement and development of computational capabilities of 3D imaging. The fourth era (2005 to 2012) was not surprisingly aligned with the termination of original 3D printing patents, conventional acquisition of social media as well as initiation of maker movement which represents the beginning of 3D printing to be comprehensively introduced and adopted by spectators beyond the significant industrial players. The fifth era started from beginning of 2012 up to 2017 represents awakening of 3D printing. 3D-printable materials and novel additive technologies and even bioprinting begin to be acquired, being considerably funded, and prevailed, underpinned by prime federal government strive.

The ASTM Committee F42 in 2009 published a report containing standard terminologies of additive manufacturing. This acknowledged 3D printing as industrial manufacturing technology. The FDM patents expired in the same year with the production of the first low-cost 3D printer desktop by the RepRap project. Earlier, it costs $200,000 now all of a sudden and became available for less than $2,000. The adoption of 3D printing technology according to Wohlers kept proliferating. 3D desktop printers of more than 1 million have been accorded globally between 2015 to 2017, and it has been evinced that the industrial sale of metal printers get almost doubled in 2017 in contrary to the previous year. The locution "3D printing" is technically introduced as additive technology based on materials deposition. 3D printing of biomedical products has been turned omnipresent. The proliferation of advanced or novel biomaterials and biologics in addition to tissue and live cell bioprinting and associated fabrication technologies is a conception to be clinically broached. The prognostication of a future where 3D printing is not ordinarily employed to produce guides, models, or inert implants but also devilishly tissue regenerative and bioactive devices which assure the transformation of orthopedic medicine and healthcare immensely.

1.2 Understanding 3D Printing

3D printing is a technique of producing three-dimensional solid components from a digital file. The formation of a 3D-printed object is attained by employing additive processes. Here the object is formed through laying down successive layers of material. It is converse of subtracting manufacturing in which hollowing or cutting the...