Lately 3D printing has been in news a lot. People are talking about using 3D printing to fabricate a wide variety of artifacts including shoes, robots, drones, cupcakes, and kidneys. Is this just hype or a new manufacturing revolution? To answer this question let us review the desired characteristics in a manufacturing process. My personal wish list includes the following:
3D printing is a slow process. So printing a large part takes a long time. Forming and consolidation processes such as stamping, molding, and casting are much faster in terms of processing time for making large parts. But for making small parts, 3D printing appears to be quite competitive because overall processing times are small. 3D printing is also quite attractive in terms of processing time for making large intricate parts in comparison to subtractive processes such as milling. For such parts, subtractive processes tend to be slow because they need to remove a large volume of material to create the final part shape.
Currently, many 3D printers use proprietary materials. So the material cost tends to be high. However, this is not an inherent limitation of 3D printing. As more companies compete in this space, the economy of scale should bring the material cost down.
Open source designs of 3D printers have led to a drastic reduction in prices for certain types of 3D printers. Currently there are 3D printers in the market that cost less than $1000. This development has made this technology accessible to a wide variety of users. High-end 3D printers are still very expensive. There are significant opportunities for developing low cost 3D printers that work with metals and high strength polymer materials.
The processing cost is a function of human labor cost, equipment cost, hourly operation cost and processing time. As discussed earlier, 3D printing does not require much human labor. Open source movement is bringing down the equipment cost. So the energy cost is the main component of the hourly operation cost. 3D printer power consumption is comparable to other manufacturing processes. So the main driver for the processing cost is processing time. As discussed earlier, 3D printing is a slow process. Therefore, processing costs tend to be high for making large parts. Most 3D printers require post-processing operations to clean parts. This step leads to additional costs.
3D printers are able to fabricate very complex shapes. Moreover, the increased geometric complexity of the part does not lead to increased cost in the world of 3D printing. This encourages use of parts with intricate internal cavities to enhance performance and reduce weight. The reduction in the amount of material used in the part also helps in realizing more sustainable products by minimizing the material use. However, designing geometrically complex parts manually using the current CAD systems is a very tedious and error prone task. So we will need to develop automated shape synthesis tools that can automatically create new shapes from the functional requirements to fully exploit the capabilities of the 3D printing technology.
Currently 3D printers offer limited material choices. In fact, most 3D printers only work with low grade plastics. There are few printers in the market that work with a selected number of metals. Increasingly, composites are being used in a wide range of products including aircrafts and automobiles because of their high strength, light weight, and corrosion resistance. The next generation 3D printers will need to be able to process polymer composites and a richer variety of metals.
3D printing is a process in which a part is build layer-by-layer. So layer thickness determines the part accuracy. It is possible to achieve reasonably high accuracy using 3D printing by using very small layer thickness. But this leads to high processing time and high processing costs.
Many different types of 3D printing processes exist with different levels of environmental impact. There exist 3D printing processes that have virtually no negative environment impact except the energy consumption. So clearly, eco-friendly 3D printers are possible. However, reducing the energy consumption will require significant further development in this area.
3D printing is expected to be useful both for in-home manufacturing and factory production. In fact 3D printing can be used to make tooling (e.g., mold and patterns) for traditional processes. It has already enabled e-commerce in the manufacturing sector. Designers are able to buy 3D printed parts over the Internet.
Facilitating the increased in-home use of this technology will require making this technology much more user-friendly. CAD systems are often used to create 3D models to be printed on 3D printers. People with limited technical expertise find CAD systems hard to use. CAD system user interface has to improve significantly in terms of user friendliness for a lay person to effectively utilize 3D printers for in-home use. The improved interfaces will enable the use of 3D printing in K-12 schools. It will also enable people with limited technical background to participate in the invention process.
So in summary, 3D printing has many desirable characteristics. It meets many unfilled needs in the market. So it is here to stay!
But let us remember that 3D printing is not a perfect process. In my opinion, 3D printing is a precursor to a new manufacturing revolution. Let us take inspiration from it and continue to look for a process that has all the desirable characteristics in the wish list presented above!
- No lead time
- No part-specific tooling
- No specialized expertise needed to run the processing equipment
- No setup time
- Low processing time (laws of physics prohibit wishing for zero processing time!)
- Low material cost
- Low equipment cost
- Low operation cost
- Ability to realize arbitrarily complex shapes
- Ability to process any material
- High accuracy
- No negative environmental impact
3D printing is a slow process. So printing a large part takes a long time. Forming and consolidation processes such as stamping, molding, and casting are much faster in terms of processing time for making large parts. But for making small parts, 3D printing appears to be quite competitive because overall processing times are small. 3D printing is also quite attractive in terms of processing time for making large intricate parts in comparison to subtractive processes such as milling. For such parts, subtractive processes tend to be slow because they need to remove a large volume of material to create the final part shape.
Currently, many 3D printers use proprietary materials. So the material cost tends to be high. However, this is not an inherent limitation of 3D printing. As more companies compete in this space, the economy of scale should bring the material cost down.
Open source designs of 3D printers have led to a drastic reduction in prices for certain types of 3D printers. Currently there are 3D printers in the market that cost less than $1000. This development has made this technology accessible to a wide variety of users. High-end 3D printers are still very expensive. There are significant opportunities for developing low cost 3D printers that work with metals and high strength polymer materials.
The processing cost is a function of human labor cost, equipment cost, hourly operation cost and processing time. As discussed earlier, 3D printing does not require much human labor. Open source movement is bringing down the equipment cost. So the energy cost is the main component of the hourly operation cost. 3D printer power consumption is comparable to other manufacturing processes. So the main driver for the processing cost is processing time. As discussed earlier, 3D printing is a slow process. Therefore, processing costs tend to be high for making large parts. Most 3D printers require post-processing operations to clean parts. This step leads to additional costs.
3D printers are able to fabricate very complex shapes. Moreover, the increased geometric complexity of the part does not lead to increased cost in the world of 3D printing. This encourages use of parts with intricate internal cavities to enhance performance and reduce weight. The reduction in the amount of material used in the part also helps in realizing more sustainable products by minimizing the material use. However, designing geometrically complex parts manually using the current CAD systems is a very tedious and error prone task. So we will need to develop automated shape synthesis tools that can automatically create new shapes from the functional requirements to fully exploit the capabilities of the 3D printing technology.
Currently 3D printers offer limited material choices. In fact, most 3D printers only work with low grade plastics. There are few printers in the market that work with a selected number of metals. Increasingly, composites are being used in a wide range of products including aircrafts and automobiles because of their high strength, light weight, and corrosion resistance. The next generation 3D printers will need to be able to process polymer composites and a richer variety of metals.
3D printing is a process in which a part is build layer-by-layer. So layer thickness determines the part accuracy. It is possible to achieve reasonably high accuracy using 3D printing by using very small layer thickness. But this leads to high processing time and high processing costs.
Many different types of 3D printing processes exist with different levels of environmental impact. There exist 3D printing processes that have virtually no negative environment impact except the energy consumption. So clearly, eco-friendly 3D printers are possible. However, reducing the energy consumption will require significant further development in this area.
3D printing is expected to be useful both for in-home manufacturing and factory production. In fact 3D printing can be used to make tooling (e.g., mold and patterns) for traditional processes. It has already enabled e-commerce in the manufacturing sector. Designers are able to buy 3D printed parts over the Internet.
Facilitating the increased in-home use of this technology will require making this technology much more user-friendly. CAD systems are often used to create 3D models to be printed on 3D printers. People with limited technical expertise find CAD systems hard to use. CAD system user interface has to improve significantly in terms of user friendliness for a lay person to effectively utilize 3D printers for in-home use. The improved interfaces will enable the use of 3D printing in K-12 schools. It will also enable people with limited technical background to participate in the invention process.
So in summary, 3D printing has many desirable characteristics. It meets many unfilled needs in the market. So it is here to stay!
But let us remember that 3D printing is not a perfect process. In my opinion, 3D printing is a precursor to a new manufacturing revolution. Let us take inspiration from it and continue to look for a process that has all the desirable characteristics in the wish list presented above!
A very interesting article. I want to emphasize the medical application of 3-D printing. 3-D printing is suitable for bio-compatible materials and can potentially revolutionize the manufacturing of artificial limbs. Tissue Engineers are now-a-days embracing 3-D printing in manufacturing artificial meat for food industries or artificial leather for fashion industries.
ReplyDeleteThere are several interesting applications of 3D printing. In my mind, one of the biggest advantages of the 3D printing process is that it is less dependent on the skill of the worker. This reduces technician training time (and thereby substitutes a high labor cost workforce).
ReplyDeleteBut the issue with 3D printing has been that it is still some ways to go before it graduates from a rapid "prototyping" process to a rapid "production" process. Machining still remains a process of choice for most small businesses with low to medium volume productions. Unfortunately machining is highly skill driven. Finding and keeping a good machinist has almost become a company's "trade secret"
As mentioned in the article, 3D printing has its capacities and its limitations. For example, producing the mechanical structure of a machine/robot might not be a problem for a 3D printer. However, more advances are required once it comes to more involved parts like bearings, rotor coils/windings, springs, etc. A step toward enabling 3D printing for creating more serious stuff is developing methods to control several directional properties of materials during the printing process, which I believe is currently limited (This is only based on my guess work though).
ReplyDelete
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Very informative post. I think that among other things, what the 3D printing machines require is smarter software. Bringing in AI techniques to design "optimal" support structures while building the parts, for instance, might reduce the build time significantly.
ReplyDeleteNice post. As mentioned in the article, 3D printing or additive manufacturing is certainly not a perfect process. The prospects that the 3D printing technology brings must be viewed as complimentary to traditional manufacturing processes. For example, 3D printing can be valuable in creating the tooling for traditional process. Given the variety of 3D Printing technologies, there are tremendous opportunities for improvement in the hardware, software and material capabilities to increase the reliability of the processes. There is a lot of active research pursued in such directions. Also, there is a growing need for standards for the 3D printing technology, as we do for traditional manufacturing process. Some of the standards related work for additive manufacturing is currently being pursued under ASTM.
ReplyDeleteI just came across the Filabot project the other day. They're developing a machine that can make filament from plastic bottles and other recyclable materials you have lying around the house. Seems perfect to pair with a 3D printer at home, since it lets you create your own low cost printing material:
ReplyDeletehttp://filabot.com/