Why Does 3D Printing Represent The Future?

With the development of new materials and processes, 3D printing can have a profound impact on sustainability and waste elimination.

The potential of 3D printing and additive manufacturing is so great that it may overturn the manufacturing industry as we know it. The most obvious change will be localized production, which may replace or replace traditional distributed manufacturing. Another major change is the ability to personalize.

In addition to subverting traditional manufacturing, 3D printing will also improve sustainability through the use of non petrochemical materials. New materials will be cheaper and easier to purchase, which will reduce manufacturing costs. These lower costs will also affect the cost of material storage, transportation and transportation systems.

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What is additive manufacturing?

Additive manufacturing is the process of manufacturing objects by stacking materials layer by layer (usually plastic or metal powder). These goals can actually be anything. As long as the 3D model can be designed in the software, it can be printed.

Why is additive manufacturing subversive?

In traditional manufacturing, several steps are involved to conceive, design and develop products. First, designers need to design blueprints. Next, the organization needs to contact the factory and material suppliers. Then, the factory will produce a sample of the equipment and return it to the organization (this may take several weeks, especially if the factory is overseas). If the sample needs to be adjusted, this process must be repeated to change weeks into months. Once it comes to mass production, factory managers will supervise people or robots on the assembly line to complete the production. The finished product is then shipped back to the organization.

Compare it with additive manufacturing. Although designers still need blueprints. However, there is no need to contact the factory to produce samples and carry out mass production. Both can be done internally using several 3D printers with the help of plastic or metal powder distributors. The time required for the product from concept to launch is only a small part of the past.

For small organizations without production capacity, factories will always exist for mass production, but the ability to produce samples without outsourcing can save a lot of time for the company.

Sustainable production

One of the best things about 3D printing is the incredible variety of materials we can choose from. This means that it is possible to transition from an unsustainable manufacturing process to a more sustainable manufacturing process without updating equipment - this is what enterprises need to do when faced with increasing pressure.

At present, the biggest environmental obstacle in metal additive manufacturing is the atomization process of powder. The two main forms of atomization are gas and plasma, which will consume a lot of energy and cause great damage to the environment.

Therefore, new processes are being developed to address this challenge. For example, variants of microwave based plasma atomization can recover used materials in near 100% yield while using less energy than gas or plasma atomization. Resin materials are also being developed to help safely store and recycle metal condensates and reduce the waste we generate. We can even make recycled plastic filaments at home.

All these technologies enable us to use domestic waste dumps without relying on foreign production and mining. What we get is a sustainable production cycle. Enterprises buy materials made of additive manufacturing waste, 3D print their products, and then sell their new waste back to the manufacturers of recycled powder.

In addition, bio based materials such as PA11 made from castor seeds and castor oil are becoming more and more popular. This means less metal mining and plastic manufacturing. In the future, 3D printing will use various materials.

Intelligent manufacturing

Current emerging trends include customization of additive manufacturing in the organization's workflow. At this stage of development, enterprises are still trying to understand how to combine 3D printing with existing technologies. When problems occur without manual monitoring, machine learning can play a role in correcting errors and mistakes in the production process. This "intelligent manufacturing" will significantly improve production efficiency, scale and the process used to design cross industry products.

Medical applications

Looking ahead, we will see 3D printing more integrated into the biomedical industry. In fact, this is already happening. It is no longer just a dream to be able to print patient specific implants and devices (called bioprinting), which is also the next frontier. New materials are being developed to help manage drugs, manufacture biological tissues, and eventually print implantable organs.

The future of 3D printing is bright

3D printing is the future. A future that has a profound impact on sustainability and the elimination of waste. The development speed of 3D printing or additive manufacturing is amazing. Originally just printing simple 3D figurines, it has become a new breakthrough technology used by cross industry and academia.

Now, we can see that new materials and atomization processes beneficial to the earth's environment are being formed. Medical departments are using 3D printing to produce patient specific implants and devices. The sample production will be completed internally rather than relying on overseas factories. The more progress we have made, the more clear it is that the future is based on additive manufacturing.