The design freedom granted by additive manufacturing allows designers and engineers to tailor a product to better meet its application’s needs. In the field of pharmaceuticals, the sizes and geometries of drug delivery devices such as tablets can be modified to control their release and dosage profiles. This enables personalized medication for individual patients, mitigating […]
3D Printing & On-Demand SmartMaaS Manufacturing as a Service
In the recently published ‘SmartMaaS: A Framework for Smart Manufacturing-as-a-Service,’ researchers from Queen’s University Belfast explore the potential for manufacturers selling their wares on-demand, rather than in a pre-defined format.
Cloud-based manufacturing offers potential we never could have dreamed of just several years ago, as progressive companies are leaning toward solutions like Manufacturing-as-a-Service (MaaS)—giving true definition to just one of the ways 3D printing and other disruptive technologies are indeed revolutionizing industry and commerce.
‘Connected products’ such as IoT devices, cloud computing, and more are expected to bring in profits from $519B-$685B by 2020—propelled by incredible innovation in both IT and communications, along with machine learning and artificial intelligence. Now, analysts expect that nearly half of all products will be ‘smart’ by next year.
SmartMaaS framework
The researchers have created the SmartMaaS framework to orchestrate the following:
- Receive product requests from customers
- Run required algorithms
- Manage design and manufacturing resources
- Use parameters to begin product design
One of the critical models used by SmartMaaS is the designing module, integrating with the framework for rapid processing and computation of design simulations. Afterward, both the modeling and manufacturing modules are used.
“As SmartMaaS uses cloud-based design and manufacturing, it gets access to a number of modelling tools (e.g. CAD tools) and manufacturers (e.g. 3D printers), which are made available via cloud services, Sofwareas-a-Service (SaaS) and Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS), respectively,” explain the researchers.
The decision-making module is used is used to select a manufacturer depending on whether they are affordable, available, and how long production will take. More interesting, this module is also capable of receiving feedback from customers, along with offering other factors that help refine products.
SmartMaaS prototype
A conceptual actor model is used to communicate between:
- Customer
- Design
- Manufacturing resources
“This actorbased communication and storage approach keeps the SmartMaaS alive throughout the design and manufacturing process, which subsequently helps in making smart decisions (using the “Decision Making” module) to meet customers’ goals,” explain the researchers.
The prototype offers:
- Actor-based state storage
- Gene-based design growth
- Remote CAD modelling
- Remote 3D printing
In both discussion and conclusion, the researchers advise us further of the benefits here, to include exponentially faster turnaround. Not only does this mean that organization within the company is more cohesive and projects are begun and ended more quickly—customers are much happier. With cloud services, more requests can be handled simultaneously, design is produced more expediently, anomalies are detected, and delays are prevented.
“The future work includes achieving the goals that are set for SmartMaaS. As a next step, the SmartMaaS framework will be deployed in a public cloud, and decision-making algorithms will be proposed to choose optimal manufacturing (3D printing) options,” concluded the researchers.
On-demand production is an exciting concept as researchers continue to work on innovative projects, from printing portals to drop-on-demand methods to new techniques in bioprinting. What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.
[Source / Images: ‘SmartMaaS: A Framework for Smart Manufacturing-as-a-Service’]
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Adding Lignin & Curcumin to PLA for 3D Printed Wound Healing Meshes
As innovation in materials grows into a vast science—especially within the 3D and 4D printing realms, medical patients of today and the future can look forward to improved, patient-specific care. Researchers from Queen’s University Belfast study the implications and potential with enhanced PLA in ‘Antioxidant PLA Composites Containing Lignin for 3D Printing Applications: A Potential Material for Healthcare Applications.’
Lignin (LIG) is a natural biopolymer containing antioxidants. To see if these properties would carry through after serving as a coating for PLA pellets and then being 3D printed, the researchers placed the material into an extruder at 200 ◦C. Their suppositions proved correct as not only did the filament work successfully, but it passed on antioxidants.
“A wound healing model compound, curcumin (CUR), was applied in the surface of the mesh and its diffusion was studied,” stated the researchers. “It was observed that the dimensions of the meshes affected the permeation rate of CUR. Accordingly, the design of the mesh could be modified according to the patient’s needs.”
Photographs of: PLA and PLA coated pellets (A); LIG and TC containing PLA filaments (B); LIG and TC containing 1 cm × 1 cm squares prepared using 3D printing (C); and different shapes printed using the filament containing 2% (w/w) LIG (D).
The use of PLA is popular for many reasons, beginning with its percieved biodegradability factor, and lack of toxicity. Suitable for FFF 3D printing, the vegetable-based filament can be combined with other molecules and has shown increasing merit for medical applications, especially in accelerating healing of wounds. This type of study has not been expansive previously, however, harnessing the power of lignin’s antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Lignin is of interest as an extremely abundant polymer that the researchers contend is highly unexploited. It is an affordable material to acquire and use, and useful in a variety of other applications currently.
Scheme of the different meshes produced using FFF.
The researchers used different types of mesh with a 2 percent combination of LIG in the PLA, along with curcumin (CUR) applied in the material and diffused. They discovered better effectiveness with the meshes when using a size of 1mm. The research team also found that the release rate was delayed if they used both the mesh and a soluble PVA film, printed with the mesh on an FDM 3D printer with a dual extruder. The PVA film may also function in dual capacity as it not only delays the release of CUR, but also keeps the wound moist.
“A potential scenario for this material is as a wound dressing material due to the antioxidant activity of the composite material that can contribute to wound closure. Due to the low price of 3D printing equipment and its versatility, these materials can be used in hospitals to print wound dressings for patients on demand,” concluded the researchers.
“Due to the enhanced cell proliferation on antioxidant materials [16], these materials can be used for tissue culture applications or even for regenerative medicine. Due to the versatility of FFF, complex geometries can be prepared such as scaffolds. However, before this type of materials can be implanted into humans, the safety of lignin-based materials should be evaluated. It has been reported before that LIG-based materials are biocompatible [45] but more studies should be performed.”
3D printing continues to make substantial impacts in the medical arena, innovating for better ways to heal wounds, along with improving drug-delivery systems, and assisting in tissue regeneration. What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.
Experimental setup used to measure drug diffusion trough the 3D printed meshes (A);
photographs of the 3D printed meshes made of PLA and 2% (w/w) LIG (B); and CUR release through
1.5 mm (C) and 1 mm (D) 3D printed meshes (n = 3).
[Source / Images: Antioxidant PLA Composites Containing Lignin for 3D Printing Applications: A Potential Material for Healthcare Applications]