3D Printing Industry Review of the Year August 2019
International consortium develops 3D printable alloy for more eco-friendly refrigerators
3D Printing in the Construction Industry: Still Evolving
In ‘Success Factors for 3D Printing Technology Adoption in Construction,” thesis student Pankhuri Pimpley at the University of Maryland, College Park, explores not only the history and benefits of 3D printing but also its effectiveness overall in a competitive, demanding market.
While 3D printing was created in the 1980s and introduced to the construction industry in the 90s, its purpose in that application was mainly for rapid prototyping. Such a process offers huge benefits to industrial users, but as with so many other industries and applications, it wasn’t long before ambitious users wanted to use digital fabrication to make real parts.
As further advances in automation are still needed for the construction industry, 3D printing has become a very attractive option. The advantages abound too—from more savings on the bottom line to greater efficiency and less need for labor, to a continually expanding array of available materials. The author’s discussion as to why 3D printing is needed in construction is compelling:
“The construction industry has been slow in adopting new methods and innovations due to deep confidence in the efficiency of traditional processes, materials and codes. Since no change or innovation proposes growth of the sector, the construction industry has one of the lowest productivity increases compared to other industries. It is even more important to automate construction activities given the risks associated with it,” states the author.
“About 400,000 people are injured or killed every year in the USA during construction. These injuries and fatalities eventually translate to costs for society. Construction is also prone to corruption and political feuds. Hence the primary need for 3DP in construction is to reduce or eliminate human involvement in the design and development of the structure. It is also important that 3D printing be considered a standard construction practice by code bodies. Accepting the innovation can help set a common standard for global construction and solve the problem of labor skill variation from demographics and experience.”
Large-scale mobile printers are popular in the construction industry, and we have followed many of them such as the WASP 3D printer, which has been used for the beginnings of creating an entire community, along with tiny houses, and more. Pimpley points out numerous other examples too of companies with ambitious plans also, many of them eager to build small structures in record time—including Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, planning to print five single-story, two-bedroom residences.
Pimpley also gave great attention to how socioeconomics might affect 3D printing, along with considering how to manage such factors in the future. One of the most important items that Pimpley points out, however, is that within the construction industry overall, the actual usefulness of 3D printing is ‘still limited.’ The author explains to us that this is due to certain issues related to society, the general market, and other business-related reasons.
“Nine success factors and forty-two corresponding measurement items have been identified and analyzed through literature review, case studies, surveys, interviews and correspondence with worldwide construction 3D printing experts and professionals. All factors are finally determined important to consider for the success of a construction 3DP project at its current phase. Relative significance of the factors and measurement items have been determined based on 82 questionnaire survey responses,” concluded the researcher.
“Altogether, the findings can help achieve an understanding of 3DP and increase the likelihood of successful adoption in various sectors within construction.”
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Using 3D Printing to Sample the Ocean Floor
When we think of biodiversity, we may think of forests with wildly differing species of birds, insects and other animals, or seas with wide varieties of fish. Sometimes biodiversity is easily visible in these larger species, but often it can only be measured on a very small scale. Dr. Matthew Cannon, a research associate in the lab of Dr. David Serre at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute for Genome Sciences, is interested in measuring biodiversity using DNA from environmental samples such as fresh or marine water, sediments or soils.
The analysis of environmental DNA, or eDNA, is an effective technique of measuring biodiversity. Organisms living in a particular area can be identified and characterized by the cells and hair they leave behind, or their decaying remains, all of which contain DNA and can reveal to scientists the types of creatures that are present in any given location. Special tools are required for this kind of analysis, especially for the type of work that Dr. Cannon wants to do, which involves taking samples from deep underwater locations.
Methods of sampling eDNA from deep underwater locations are limited by the volume of water that can be collected, or because of potential contamination from surface water. The possibilities presented by collection of eDNA from these deep-water locations are intriguing, however, because a single sample can give researchers an idea of the total biodiversity of a site without direct organism sampling. These locations are difficult to explore; traditional methods such as collecting samples in trawl nets or expeditions with remotely operated vehicles are expensive and can miss organisms that can’t be captured by a net or that avoid the lights of a rover.
Therefore, Dr. Cannon wanted to explore alternative options for deep-water eDNA sampling. He designed and 3D printed a device that houses a water filter and pump, controlled by an Arduino, that can collect samples at any depth. The device allows for the collection of large samples, limited only by filtering time.
“3-D printing is allowing us to develop a prototype water sampler that might not have been practical to imagine or design a few years ago,” Dr. Cannon said.
Dr. Cannon used the 3D printer at the Health Sciences/Human Services Library Innovation Space to create his prototype, which he is now testing to ensure that the parts work well together. It only takes a few hours to 3D print each prototype, allowing him to quickly develop new iterations.
The University of Maryland prioritizes technological advancement; towards the end of last year the university opened a new center dedicated to bioengineering, and was one of the earlier schools to open a MakerBot Innovation Center. The school is responsible for some advanced 3D printing-related research, and Dr. Cannon’s work will put the university on the map once again for its use of technology to gain new insight into areas that have previously been unexplored.
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[Source/Images: University of Maryland]