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6 Future Applications of 3D Printing

3D printing is quickly developing into one of the most influential manufacturing technologies used across various industries. The rapid adoption we are witnessing now will only increase in the years to come. In this article, let’s take a look at six interesting future applications of 3D printing.

Soft Sensors &
Actuators

Soft sensors and actuators are a huge space where scientists are looking to apply 3D printing technology. Any such application requires automation and the ability to act independently. While manufacturing such systems is easy via 3D printing, operating them is still a challenge.

Scientists are now looking at 4D printing – a recent branch of 3D printing that deals in printing with smart and active materials. These 4D printed objects respond to external stimuli by changing shapes. Examples of such stimuli for 4D printing include:

Heat – Heat is one of the most popular stimuli for 4D
printed objects. A 4D printing material can change its shape on exposure to
heat. These materials called Shape memory materials (SMM) can be efficiently
programmed to act in a certain way when they are heated above their glass
transition temperature (Tg). Shape memory materials can
be further divided into Shape Memory Alloys & Shape Memory Polymers, Shape
Memory Ceramics (SMC), Shape Memory Gels (SMG) and Shape Memory Hybrids (SMH).

Light – Light is also one of the most common stimuli
for 4D printed objects. A photosensitive material responds to light in the form
of heat. They can then change their shape with regards to how much heat they
absorb from the light. In this case, mostly the joints absorb light and that
corresponds to the color of the joint.

Magnetism – These are the materials that respond to
external magnetic stimuli. The materials are infused with magnetic
nanoparticles so that the 4D printed part will respond to the applied magnetic
field.

Electricity – Electricity or current is also an external
stimulus for 4D printed objects. When a current is
applied, heat is generated and the object then behaves in a certain programmed
way to respond to these stimuli.

Moisture – Moisture can also be a stimulus since there are a lot of hygroscopic materials available and in use in manufacturing. This property of the material is of interest to researchers. Hydrogels are such materials and moisture allows them to expand up to 200% of their original volume. Hydrogels are perfect for 3D printing. But most importantly they are biocompatible and this is what makes the material interesting.

4D printed objects have shown great potential in applications involving actions such as grasping, sorting tasks, climbing or crawling agents, search and rescue missions, and hydrogel-based drug delivery.

Personalized
Nutrition

Personalized nutrition
is one of the most exciting and interesting future applications of 3D printing.
The food space is already getting competitive with multiple companies using 3D
printing technology to print food. But personalized nutrition goes beyond simple
food printing.

Nutrition 3D printing can allow people to 3D print their food by customizing the nutrition content as per the person’s needs and requirements. A few companies are already helping professional kitchens personalize their food offerings by fine-tuning the nutrient level of the preparation.

A personalized nutrition printer is an innovative solution where the printer will be fed with the prescribed nutrition for the individual to print food with accurate nutrient value.

Another application is for people who suffer from dysphagia – difficulty in swallowing, and for this issue researchers are working on 3D printing technology to print nutritious food that is easy to swallow.

These solutions can revolutionize the way people eat and maintain their health, especially for people who have special needs or require assistance in food preparations.

Personalized
Medicine

One area of 3D printing that also holds immense promise and opportunity is personalized medicine. Drugs have been manufactured for decades and they have been a standard in how diseases are cured. But the one thing associated with drugs is the side effects it has on individuals. Every person is different and a drug that is highly successful for one person may result in adverse effects in another.

3D printing has the power to create personalized and customized drugs for each individual. This capability can allow doctors, in the future, to 3D print personalized drugs for each individual patient.

3D printed drugs introduce the advantages of accessibility (drugs printed on site, on demand) and individualized customization (the perfect dose for each patient). Once enabled, this may revolutionize the way treatments are delivered to patients.

However, before 3D printing technology is used for drug printing, the regulators will have to put strict control over the use and licensing of the technology. 

Replacement Organs

3D printing organs is the ultimate destination for scientists and researchers. The field called 3D Bioprinting uses a bioink, made from human tissues and cells to 3D print the needed organ that will not only be fully functional but also compatible with the human recipient.

Bioprinting is an emerging field and more and more researchers are taking a keen interest to quicken the pace of development. While we still have a long way to go before organ printing becomes the reality, some researchers suggest that this technology may be achievable in the next decade, with organ printers made available in hospitals.

Organ printing is mostly concentrated on specific organs such as the heart, liver, kidney and cornea. Additionally, bones are also being studied to be bioprinted.

Cancer Cure

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is a generic term for a large group of diseases that can affect any part of the body. With more than 9.6 million deaths due to cancer worldwide in 2018, it is one of the deadliest diseases in the world. Cancer has been around for centuries and still, there is no conclusive treatment for it.

Today we are at a juncture where scientists believe 3D printing technology could provide the much-needed solution.

According to
scientists, 3D printing can help bioprint cancer tumor cells. Doctors can
collect cells from a patient, and bioprint them into a 3D shape. Current
treatment involves testing 2D models in a petri-dish where the cells stick to
the bottom of the dish that is analyzed. But the 2D models do not accurately
represent a human tumor and this leads to a difference in the treatment and the
results.

Scientists believe that 3D bioprinted tumor cells will accurately represent the human conditions. They will also be able to analyze the 3D models better by cutting them, slicing them and understanding their structure.

3D printing can also lead to patient-specific treatment in the future. By collecting individual patient’s tumor cells, analyzing them and finding treatment for them could provide the answers to finding cure in the future.

Mars Colonization

Humans have been fascinated by the Red Planet, Mars, since we first discovered it. The closest planet is recreated in so many movies and countless novels and the dream to colonize Mars is looking more and more achievable.

Researchers believe 3D printing could provide the key to building a sustainable human colony on Mars. They plan to use 3D printing to build houses and produce food from locally available sources. According to some experts, the raw materials on Mars can be used to make plastics, and the Martian sand can be used as cement. With these materials, construction 3D printers can start building a human-friendly habitat on Mars.

NASA launched and invited people across the globe to join the NASA Habitat Challenge to design 3D printed habitat for deep-space exploration. The challenge completed in 2019 awarded a total of $2,061,023. This was not only progress for the Mars mission, but the results of using 3D printing for housing solutions could be applicable here on Earth as well.

The 3D printing technology continues to challenge scientists, engineers, and researchers to explore the possibilities of its application. Are you applying 3D printing to revolutionize your industry? Find out how Shapeways can help with all of your prototyping needs.

The post 6 Future Applications of 3D Printing appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

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Cooper Hewitt’s National Design Award Winner Joe Doucet Always Places Sustainability at the Forefront

Artist: Joe Doucet / Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Photo: Donatello Arm

For world-renowned designer Joe Doucet, using 3D printing to create products that have a minimal environmental impact was never an afterthought. To Doucet, sustainability is key to the future of design.

“I’ve always been interested in new technologies, particularly ones that have the ability to be transformative in terms of manufacturing,” Doucet told Shapeways. “If you look at it from the fact that 3D printing allows each and every object to be unique and customized completely without creating the waste — both in terms of excess material and freights and shipping — it’s just a fundamental shift in the way that we create and consume products.”

Launching his 3D design career

Doucet is no stranger to the world of 3D design. He began using 3D printing for his first project back in 2000 and hasn’t stopped since. Shortly after that, Doucet discovered Shapeways and saw how cost and time efficient the company was when it came to prototyping (“I used Shapeways…to visualize what the final product would be like,” he said). So when it came time to launch his company OTHR, it only made sense to partner with Shapeways.

“We’ve had a long history with Shapeways. During the launch of OTHR, we formalized a partnership and a relationship with Shapeways to be really one of our main suppliers and partners.”

And now, National Design Award winning designer Doucet is using Shapeways to help curate a current exhibition in New York City that is open through April 14, 2019.

Tableware through the centuries on display


Artist: Joe Doucet / Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Video: Donatello Arm

The exhibition — which is titled Tablescapes: Designs for Dining, and is currently open to the public — confronted Doucet with a challenge: How do you use design to create solutions for the decrease in resources we see in the world? As resources get more limited, how do you make that less dystopian? How do you take these resources and make them into a beautiful experience of eating?

The exhibition is broken up into three sections: One depicting dining ware in the 19th century, another in the 20th century and a final section focused on dining and tableware in the 21st century. The 19th-century room is an artistic masterpiece bringing viewers back to the time of Napoleon III. The 20th-century room, on the other hand, shows the shift that occurred towards mass production of products. And finally, the 21st-century room paints a picture of the sustainable future we see a glimpse of today.

“When we were tasked to design the tableware and dinnerware for the 21st century…obviously to me, the decentralization of manufacturing and the addition of technology, being able to reduce the carbon footprints and allow infinite customization, was key to representing what the 21st century will be,” Doucet told Shapeways.

Partnering with Shapeways to find the perfect materials

Once Doucet was aware of the way he wished to construct each section of the exhibit, he went back to Shapeways to find the best materials and printing processes to use.

“We partnered with Shapeways quite early on in the process to explore different manufacturing techniques in terms of 3D printing to be able to create all the final pieces you’ll see at the exhibit. Shapeways is the sole producer of the tableware and cutlery.”

He adds, “It was a very hands-on process and Shapeways was closely involved. There were five or six different materials and processes that were considered in the beginning, and we essentially prototyped everything with all of these different available materials and printing techniques. We met at the Shapeways headquarters in New York and went through all the benefits and different quality levels that we were able to achieve.”

After much time spent on reviewing each material and printing option, calculating the benefits of each, Doucet and the Shapeways team were able to agree on the best way to create the products for the exhibit.

“I think we were all incredibly pleased with the results and quite surprised with the level of execution that we were able to achieve with the products that are on display now. They’re really stunning.”

Producing completely functional products

A highlight of the exhibit lies in Doucet’s vision to create products that can be used for cooking, serving and storing food. In the 21st-century room, the place settings can be used for all three functions, “as opposed to having three separate sets of containers for each step in that process. We decided it was best to eliminate as much as we could.”

Artist: Joe Doucet / Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Photo: Donatello Arm

“You’ll notice that on the objects, there’s this raised pattern, and it’s there not just to be a decorative element but they, in fact, would act as heat sinks to be able to distribute heat quickly in terms of the cooking process and then to quickly dissipate in the serving process,” Doucet said. “So you could take something from a microwave and put it on the table and the vessel would become cool to the touch very quickly.”

If anything, Doucet’s experience partnering with Shapeways and curating the Tablescapes: Designs for Dining exhibition was yet another clear indication of where the future of 3D printing lies.

Doucet explains, “It should be, at this point, fairly easy to see how 3D printing is going to fundamentally revolutionize how things are made. And I think companies like Shapeways, and Shapeways in particular, are really [game changers] in making this industrial revolution accessible to [anyone] at the touch of a button.”

Joe Doucet’s “Tablescapes: Designs for Dining” exhibition is on view now at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum through April 14, 2019.

Want more exclusive interviews with leading 3D designers? Sign up to our email list

The post Cooper Hewitt’s National Design Award Winner Joe Doucet Always Places Sustainability at the Forefront appeared first on Shapeways Magazine.

Posted on

Cooper Hewitt’s Designer of the Year Joe Doucet Always Places Sustainability at the Forefront

Artist: Joe Doucet / Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Photo: Donatello Arm

For world-renowned designer Joe Doucet, using 3D printing to create products that have a minimal environmental impact was never an afterthought. To Doucet, sustainability is key to the future of design.

“I’ve always been interested in new technologies, particularly ones that have the ability to be transformative in terms of manufacturing,” Doucet told Shapeways. “If you look at it from the fact that 3D printing allows each and every object to be unique and customized completely without creating the waste — both in terms of excess material and freights and shipping — it’s just a fundamental shift in the way that we create and consume products.”

Launching his 3D design career

Doucet is no stranger to the world of 3D design. He began using 3D printing for his first project back in 2000 and hasn’t stopped since. Shortly after that, Doucet discovered Shapeways and saw how cost and time efficient the company was when it came to prototyping (“I used Shapeways…to visualize what the final product would be like,” he said). So when it came time to launch his company OTHR, it only made sense to partner with Shapeways.

“We’ve had a long history with Shapeways. During the launch of OTHR, we formalized a partnership and a relationship with Shapeways to be really one of our main suppliers and partners.”

And now, after being named Cooper Hewitt Museum’s Designer of the Year, Doucet is using Shapeways to help curate a current exhibition in New York City that is open through April 14, 2019.

Tableware through the centuries on display


Artist: Joe Doucet / Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Video: Donatello Arm

The exhibition — which is titled Tablescapes: Designs for Dining, and is currently open to the public — confronted Doucet with a challenge: How do you use design to create solutions for the decrease in resources we see in the world? As resources get more limited, how do you make that less dystopian? How do you take these resources and make them into a beautiful experience of eating?

The exhibition is broken up into three sections: One depicting dining ware in the 19th century, another in the 20th century and a final section focused on dining and tableware in the 21st century. The 19th-century room is an artistic masterpiece bringing viewers back to the time of Napoleon III. The 20th-century room, on the other hand, shows the shift that occurred towards mass production of products. And finally, the 21st-century room paints a picture of the sustainable future we see a glimpse of today.

“When we were tasked to design the tableware and dinnerware for the 21st century…obviously to me, the decentralization of manufacturing and the addition of technology, being able to reduce the carbon footprints and allow infinite customization, was key to representing what the 21st century will be,” Doucet told Shapeways.

Partnering with Shapeways to find the perfect materials

Once Doucet was aware of the way he wished to construct each section of the exhibit, he went back to Shapeways to find the best materials and printing processes to use.

“We partnered with Shapeways quite early on in the process to explore different manufacturing techniques in terms of 3D printing to be able to create all the final pieces you’ll see at the exhibit. Shapeways is the sole producer of the tableware and cutlery.”

He adds, “It was a very hands-on process and Shapeways was closely involved. There were five or six different materials and processes that were considered in the beginning, and we essentially prototyped everything with all of these different available materials and printing techniques. We met at the Shapeways headquarters in New York and went through all the benefits and different quality levels that we were able to achieve.”

After much time spent on reviewing each material and printing option, calculating the benefits of each, Doucet and the Shapeways team were able to agree on the best way to create the products for the exhibit.

“I think we were all incredibly pleased with the results and quite surprised with the level of execution that we were able to achieve with the products that are on display now. They’re really stunning.”

Producing completely functional products

A highlight of the exhibit lies in Doucet’s vision to create products that can be used for cooking, serving and storing food. In the 21st-century room, the place settings can be used for all three functions, “as opposed to having three separate sets of containers for each step in that process. We decided it was best to eliminate as much as we could.”

Artist: Joe Doucet / Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Photo: Donatello Arm

“You’ll notice that on the objects, there’s this raised pattern, and it’s there not just to be a decorative element but they, in fact, would act as heat sinks to be able to distribute heat quickly in terms of the cooking process and then to quickly dissipate in the serving process,” Doucet said. “So you could take something from a microwave and put it on the table and the vessel would become cool to the touch very quickly.”

If anything, Doucet’s experience partnering with Shapeways and curating the Tablescapes: Designs for Dining exhibition was yet another clear indication of where the future of 3D printing lies.

Doucet explains, “It should be, at this point, fairly easy to see how 3D printing is going to fundamentally revolutionize how things are made. And I think companies like Shapeways, and Shapeways in particular, are really [game changers] in making this industrial revolution accessible to [anyone] at the touch of a button.”

Joe Doucet’s “Tablescapes: Dining Through the Centuries” exhibition is on view now at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum through April 14, 2019.

Want more exclusive interviews with leading 3D designers? Sign up to our email list

The post Cooper Hewitt’s Designer of the Year Joe Doucet Always Places Sustainability at the Forefront appeared first on Shapeways Magazine.