Researchers develop low-cost 3D printed polarimeter for classroom use

Science and technology classes, particularly at University level, often require specialist apparatus that can be costly and difficult for students to get to grips with. This is where 3D printing can be of assistance, offering a low-cost method of manufacturing components for technical learning tools. Paweł Bernard from Jagiellonian University and James Mendez from Indiana […]

14th century doors of the Florence Baptistery restored using 3D printing

In Italy, 3D printing and scanning technology has helped to restore the south doors of the Baptistery of Florence, built around 700 years ago.  Made from bronze, the doors were suffering from deterioration due to weather and pollution. Therefore, as part of a cultural preservation project sponsored by the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, […]

3D Printing and COVID-19, April 20, 2020 Update

Companies, organizations and individuals continue to attempt to lend support to the COVID-19 pandemic supply effort. We will be providing regular updates about these initiatives where necessary in an attempt to ensure that the 3D printing community is aware of what is being done, what can be done and what shouldn’t be done to provide coronavirus aid.

A face mask with a motor being developed in part with Shell. Image courtesy of Shell.

The Shell Technology Center Amsterdam (STCA) is using its 3D printers to produce a number of medical products in the Netherlands and abroad. With a foundation called Air Wave, the oil giant is developing a new face mask that uses a motor to filter air, similar to those used in asbestos remediation. One particular issue with such a mask is the loud sound of the motor, which can distract a medical worker. Shell is in the process of modifying the mask to reduce the noise and airflow from the device in an oxygen tight environment, virtually eliminating the chance that particles will enter the parts during printing.

A TU Delft team showing its ventilator prototype to experts from the Leiden University Medical Center and the Erasmus Medical Center. Image courtesy of Operation Air.

Via British Shell, the petro company is 3D printing face masks with varying levels of hardness so that the area touching the wearer’s face is the softest. Shell is also lending its efforts to a team at TU Delft, who have developed a ventilator for Dutch hospitals. Shell is printing the nylon connectors and housing for electrical equipment. So far, the conglomerate has printed parts for 80 ventilators. Additionally, Shell has printed 35,000 clips designed to secure face masks.

Goodyear is also making face shields, starting with the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg, for whom the tire maker made 500 face shields using its own 3D printers. Others performing similar tasks are Titan Robotics, which is using its large-scale pellet extrusion system, Atlas, to print face shield brackets at a rate of one per 5.5 minutes in the U.S. In Italy, Weerg and PressUP have made 500 face shields. Nexteer Automotive is making face shields in Poland, aiming at a rate of 100 per day. Paragon Rapid Technologies and RPS have made over 5000 face shields for hospitals in North East England. FIT AG has so far delivered 5,000 filter carriers using a drive-in service in Germany.

3D Systems has contributed its efforts to the production of nasal test swabs. The availability of testing systems and trained staff varies from location to location, with Todd Goldstein, director of 3D Design and Innovation at Northwell Health, indicating that Northwell’s providers had no issue with machines or staff, but needed to ensure a steady supply of test swabs.

3D Systems’ 3D-printed nasal swabs being made with the Figure 4 system. Image courtesy of 3D Systems.

3D Systems is currently validating its nasal swabs, printed by Figure 4 machines using autoclavable, biocompatible materials. The company claims that its Figure 4 printer can produce 273 swabs in 2.5 hours or 18,345 swabs per week. The swabs can be produced in one of 3D Systems several ISO 13485 certified facilities meant for medical parts.

Plastic tool and industrial parts maker Extol has developed a 3D printable adapter for respirator/filter face masks that can be used in place of N95 masks. This allows firefighters and emergency medical personnel to extend the lives of their N95 masks. Masks can be requested on this page. Extol is working on creating pre-cut filters with the masks, but filters can otherwise be created by cutting out other antimicrobial masks.

Daimler AG, with its Mercedes-Benz subsidiary, has responded to the COVID-19 outbreak in a number of ways. It is making face shields using 3D printers at its Mercedes-Benz plant, so far making 2,000 such devices. The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team is a part of a larger consortium of Formula one teams that are producing CPAP devices that are already in use in other hospitals. The information for making the devices is available online.

The company also typically hosts trained emergency paramedics at its Daimler plants to provide medical services to employees if need be. These paramedics have been integrated into the public emergency medical services in Stuttgart, dispatched by the control center of the German Red Cross. In India, Mercedes-Benz has helped to setup a temporary hospital in Chakan to serve 1,500 patients. Daimler has further donated 110,000 masks to the state government, as well as cash funding to local organizations in places like China and Korea.

In times like these, it’s particularly important for large corporations to project the message that they’re giving back as the inequalities of the general population in most countries are more exposed than ever. While workers at Amazon/Whole Foods, Instacart, Target, and GE (along with a growing number of other businesses) go on strike due to insufficient wages and unsafe working conditions amid the virus, big companies that can afford to address these issues but may not have the government incentive to do so will certainly feel the class antagonism. Lest they be the targets of rage during these uncertain times, corporations may feel like it’s necessary to get out ahead of any public relations issues by lending support to the public from a health perspective. This is particularly true if the government redirects resources away from these companies and toward public goods.

As the pandemic continues to grip the world, we will continue to provide regular updates about what the 3D printing community is doing in response. As always, it is important to keep safety in mindremain critical about the potential marketing and financial interests behind seemingly good humanitarian efforts from businesses, and to do no harm.

 

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3D Printing and Mass Customization, Hand in Glove Part V

We know that we are using far too many materials in a quest for consumption, could recycle them and could use these recycled goods in high valued materials but why use 3D printing? 3D printing is a series of technologies that are very good at making a unique shape in a day or two for far too high a cost per item. That means that if we consider volume businesses than 3D printing is currently too costly. Apart from machine time and cost as well as labor material cost is the biggest cost driver. Ideally, with recycled materials we would make low-cost materials that would enable more manufacturing. 3D printing’s sweet spot in terms of part size is still somewhere between a marble and a volleyball currently, however. So not for everything and not all the time. Intrinsicly, once you’ve invested in your mold and if you’re willing to wait for the boat to come back from China 3D printing is still a far lower throughput and higher cost technology than molding. But, if we want something now(ish) and we want it at a certain place 3D printing can give us an answer. Broadly, mass customization, fashion risk, and local production could all spark use cases in high-value consumer goods.

Local production is a hot topic due to renewed interest in nationalism and assuring one’s supply chain. If this is pertinent, rather than making something overseas local manufacturing could make significant dents in time to market. Being closer to your customer can have you respond on trend to the market quicker. A new style of fidget spinner could be in your customer’s hands before the other guy has ordered them from AliBaba. There is cause for pessimism here, however. In the fidget spinner trend, we as an industry made no inroads, and in fashion and luxury goods they often consider our parts ugly. On the extreme low end, our technology finds it difficult to leverage itself whereas on the high end we find it hard to impress. We could think of ourselves as a completely modular technology where one printer could make a 1000 hearing aid shells or dental molds per day. Theoretically, one could scale up and down manufacturing very easily and be much more versatile than other technologies. Yes, we save significant time and start-up costs over other manufacturing processes that require tooling. But, we have still to find a sweet spot where our intrinsic qualities can be appreciated.

Billie Eilish called, she wants her style back, Pull & Bear by Inditex

We can not compete with the least expensive things nor can we do battle head-on with the hand made. We can not compete against those things that are solely cost-driven and need to be made in their millions either. For the right 3D printed product to make sense, it needs to be a relatively small, high-value product that could benefit from our technology, immediacy and being made in relatively low volume on time. The sum total of these things point to a very exciting benefit that our technology has, and that is to be able to mitigate fashion risk. We do not have to plan 14 months ahead to see how many green slippers Danish people will buy. This means that huge errors in these numbers, either on the more optimistic and pessimistic side can be avoided. Yes, per item 3D printing will be more expensive but we won’t have to put 100,000 slippers in TJ MAXX or miss out on selling 200,000 orange slippers that you didn’t have in stock.

A Zara Capsule Collection

By combining up to date supply chain information from in stores with short completely controlled supply chains Inditex can already reorder parts in a number of days, redesign and deploy items in a matter of a days as well and go from an idea to a widely available in-store product in a week or two as well. We can already see that Zara’s parent company is widely successful because it mitigates fashion risk for itself. Its competitors are often still trying to estimate two years or 14 months in advance even today. To me the Zara model is sure to be the right one, but can 3D printing pull this off?

 

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Arris Composites raises $48.5m to fund expansion in the US and China

California-based Arris Composites, a developer of continuous carbon fiber composites, has secured $48.5m in Series B funding in order to continue its expansion in Southeast Asia and the US. Operating in stealth mode until last year, Arris Composites has now raised a total of $58.5m in funding over two rounds of investment. A VC firm […]

3D Printing and COVID-19, April 19, 2020 Update

Companies, organizations and individuals continue to attempt to lend support to the COVID-19 pandemic supply effort. We will be providing regular updates about these initiatives where necessary in an attempt to ensure that the 3D printing community is aware of what is being done, what can be done and what shouldn’t be done to provide coronavirus aid.

3D printing is a great tool for short, fast production runs, but, as Dr. Beth Ripley from the Veterans Affairs department pointed out, it is a stop gap measure while mass manufacturers retool for larger, less expensive batches. Steve Cox,  a 3D technologies consultant, posted an open design for an injection mold meant for producing face shield headbands. The tool was designed in Autodesk Fusion 360, while Inventor was used to analyze the flow of polypropylene flow and filling within the mold. Those interested can contact him for the file.

An injection mold for 3D-printed face shield headbands by Steve Cox.

After the Chief of Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) put out a request for personal protection equipment donations, a local 3D printing company called GSC stepped in to produce new filters for the police force. MPD required 600 new filters, including the actual filter material. While Milwaukee Tool donated 600 HEPA filters from their vacuum line, Bradley Corp donated 600 O-rings for sealing them (as well as 600 extra from Viking Masek).

A face mask with 3D-printed filter attachment supplied to the Milwaukee Police Department. Image courtesy of GSC.

With the safety supplies in place, GSC prototyped an adapter for the filters to attach to MPD’s existing masks. In just five-and-a-half days, the 3D printing firm was able to get the device in the field, 3D printing the adapters on its HP 5200 3D printer printing at a rate of 125 to 250 parts daily. While the design files are available online, they are specific to MPD’s masks; however, talented designers and engineers should be able to modify them for their own use.

The Portland 3D Printing Lab is now 3D printing face and eye shields for local hospitals in Portland, Oreg. So far, 220 makers with 380 printers has produced 5,000 pieces of PPE for hospitals and partners, establishing what the group refers to as a “pop-up supply chain.”

Through MakerForce.org, local hospitals can request PPE, at which point community members can connect with them and begin making items from a catalog of parts. The group can either perform small 100-unit runs or production jobs of 200 to 5,000 units using its Rapid Assistance Database, a method for maker members to “select verified units of work, 3D print them, and drop off in bins outside three local businesses.” Using this complex method, which you can learn more about here, the group has been able to perform 9,000 hours of work in less than three weeks, delivering 1,000 pieces of individually wrapped face shields in less than a week.

Physicians at Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center’s ER with their new face shields with parts 3D printed by MakerForce.org. Image courtesy of Sean Stone.

A Massachusetts team—made up of AFFOA, MIT, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, University of Massachusetts Lowell and the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command-Soldier Center— is establishing a method for characterizing and analyzing materials and supplies used during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goals of the coalition include the following:

  • coordinating testing efforts for medical supplies
  • evaluating internationally sourced products based on their regulatory designations
  • testing and analyzing research work dedicated to product resterilization and re-use
  • Analyzing raw materials and product prototypes for PPE to establish a method for regulatory certification via NIOSH and the FDA
  • Analyzing new filter media

The group, led by AFFOA, is testing N95 respirators and masks, surgical masks, face shields, isolation gowns using the tests below. While the tests do not provide certification or pre-certification, the organization can provide connections to resources at NIOSH and the FDA. More about the effort can be found here. These tests are currently being offered for free with the organization prioritizing the tests based on need dictated by the pandemic:

A group of four medical device companies in Ohio, the Theken Group, developed a resuable, autoclavable, titanium 3D-printed N95-style face mask in a span of less than 10 days. Based off of 3D scans of human faces, 20 iterations of the mask design were first 3D printed using an FDM printer before an Arcam electron beam system was used to create the final part. The goal of the device was the ability to replace disposable cloth masks with a reusable counterpart, potentially addressing supply shortages.

The mask is now with the FDA for approval, but it does raise some questions about the viability of such a device. It weighs 60 grams, which is nearly six times the weight of a traditional, 12-gram N95 face mask, which could potentially be burdensome on the wearer. Moreover, the cost of the metal powders used with a metal powder bed fusion machines are notoriously expensive and, one would assume, cost prohibitive for these types of masks.

(L to R): 3D-printed N95 Respirator Straight Out of Printer; Finalized N95 Respirator; Cowan Moore, CTO of Theken Group wearing the Titanium 3D-printed N95 Respirator. Image courtesy of Theken Group.

As the pandemic continues to grip the world, we will continue to provide regular updates about what the 3D printing community is doing in response. As always, it is important to keep safety in mindremain critical about the potential marketing and financial interests behind seemingly good humanitarian efforts from businesses, and to do no harm.

The post 3D Printing and COVID-19, April 19, 2020 Update appeared first on 3DPrint.com | The Voice of 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing.

Osaka University: Vascularized Cardiac Construction with LbL & 3D Printing

Authors Yoshinari Tsukamoto, Takami Akagi, and Mitsuru Akashi, all from Osaka University, experiment with bioprinting in cardiac medicine, explaining their findings in the recently published ‘Vascularized cardiac tissue construction with orientation by layer-by-layer method and 3D printer.’

As tissue engineering continues to evolve in labs around the world, reaching the goal of 3D printing human organs hovers ever closer; and while such progress may seem just out of reach for many scientists, the fabrication of 3D tissue in new studies continues at a rapid pace. In this research, the authors continue where they left off in previous work, forging ahead to further refine cardiac tissue engineering.

Schematic illustration of the fabrication process for layer-by-layer (LbL) 3D tissue using fibronectin (FN) and gelatin (G) coating technique and cell accumulation technique. (b) Schematic illustration of fabrication of 3D cardiac tissue with a blood capillary network using LbL coated cells and cell accumulation technique.

Bioprinting cardiac tissue with a heart specific structure, cell orientation, and a vascular network, the authors used layer-by-layer fabrication (LbL), cell accumulation, and 3D printing. A hydroxybutyl chitosan (HBC) gel frame was created via 3D printing to control the orientation of the cells ‘linearly.’

Schematic illustration of fabrication of orientation-controlled 3D cardiac tissue using 3D printing technology. (a) 3D printing of HBC using a robotic dispensing 3D printer. (b) Fabrication of 3D multilayer tissue using LbL coated cells and cell accumulation technique. (c) Cultivation of orientation-controlled 3D tissue. (d) Assessment of shape and contractile properties using a histological technique and image processing.

“HBC has the ability of sol-gel transition depending on the temperature,” stated the authors.

The use of HBC gel was particularly interesting as the researchers used a robotic dispensing printer, cooling ink to 4 °C with a Peltier element. Evaluation by the authors showed that line width of the ink was around 1mm, with the potential for lamination of up to eight layers.

“A ninth layer could not be laminated because the HBC gel wall melted. The reason for this is that the ninth layer is far from the substrate and melts because it cannot receive temperature control,” explained the researchers. “From our previous studies, however, the thickness of 3D tissue is limited to 100 μm. For this reason, the 3D modeling ability of HBC gel is sufficient to fabricate 3D tissue using an LbL technique and cell accumulation technique.”

Observation and analysis of a laminated 5% HBC gel wall printed by a robotic dispensing 3D printer. (a) Height of laminated HBC gel wall observed from the horizontal direction. (b) Line width of laminated HBC gel wall observed from the vertical direction.

Shape controlled 3D cardiac tissue image stained with fluorescent labeling phalloidin and anti-cardiac troponin T (cTnT) antibody obtained from confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). (a–d) Shape controlled 3D cardiac tissue using a 2 × 15 mm HBC gel frame. (e–h) Uncontrolled 3D cardiac tissue. (a,e) The merged images of F-actin, cTnT and DAPI. (b,f) The merged images of F-actin and cTnT. (c,g) The cTnT images. (d,h) The F-actin images. (i,j) The graphs of the local alignment angles of F-actin fibers in shape controlled 3D cardiac tissue are shown underneath the CLSM image by image analysis.

Next, the researchers created a vascular network for their 3D printed cardiac tissue, adding hiPSC-CMs and NHCF coated FN-G nanofilms co-cultured with HMVEC in a 1.5 × 15 mm rectangular HBC gel frame (5%). Employing a 1.5 mm short side rectangular HBC gel frame, the researchers were able to control 3D cardiac tissue.

Shape controlled 3D cardiac tissue with vascular network image stained anti-cardiac troponin T (cTnT) antibody and anti-CD31 antibody obtained from LSCM. (a–c) Shape controlled 3D cardiac tissue using a 1.5 × 15 mm HBC gel frame. (d,e,f) Uncontrolled 3D cardiac tissue. (a,d) The merged image of cTnT (green) and CD31 (red). (b,e) The cTnT image. (c,f) The CD31 image. (g,h) The graphs of the local alignment angles of vascular network (CD31) in shape controlled 3D cardiac tissue are shown underneath the CLSM image by image analysis. (g) The graph of orientation-controlled tissue. (h) The graph of uncontrolled tissue.

“From the result of CD31 stained images, vascular network formed in both tissues. In the case of orientation-controlled tissue, the vascular network has an oriented structure similar to cardiomyocytes according to image analysis,” concluded the authors. “In the case of uncontrolled tissue, on the other hand, the vascular network does not have an oriented structure.”

“This 3D cardiac tissue has the potential for usage in transplantation medical care and drug assessment because it has the native heart organ-like structure and vascular network for the fabrication of thicker and larger 3D tissue. Therefore, we believe that the 3D cardiac tissue with orientation and vascular network would be a useful tool for regenerative medicine and pharmaceutical applications.”

3D printing of cardiac tissue has been the focus of other research projects, from phantoms used by surgeons to patches and cellularized hearts, regenerated muscle tissue, and much more. 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: ‘Vascularized cardiac tissue construction with orientation by layer-by-layer method and 3D printer’]

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Climate Disrupted: The State of Recycling

In our already-climate-disrupted world, we are inundated with petro-based plastics. We could rehash the numerous statistics that we probably already know, like the fact that only 9 percent of plastic waste in the U.S. actually gets recycled or that we all have microplastics in our stomachs or that making plastic products from recycled plastics actually uses 66 percent less energy than using virgin polymers. But we all know most of these stats. The question is “what are we going to do about it?” 

Obviously, the recycling system in the U.S. isn’t adequate. How might it be improved?

Improving U.S. Recycling Rates

The entire industrialized world doesn’t suck at recycling; German, for instance, has a municipal solid waste (MSW) recycling rate of 68 percent. However, one of the most powerful nations in the industrialized world does. Though the U.S. represents just 4 percent of the global population, it generates 35 percent of the planet’s waste

Image courtesy of the EPA.

The good news is that the U.S. is better at it than it was in the past. As of 2017, the U.S. was recycling over 35 percent of its MSW, compared to just 6 percent in the 1960s. While about 50 percent of the waste that gets recycled is paper and paperboard, only 3.4 percent is plastic. (Worth noting is that, in 2010, over 50 percent of U.S. MSW consisted of compostable materials. Though these materials could be composted at home or through municipal programs, their decomposition in landfills leads to methane emissions, in part causing landfills to represent 20 percent of the country’s methane production. Aerobic composting does not result in methane release, so just by composting food waste, you can reduce GHG emissions.)

To get up to the levels achieved by Germany and Austria (another leader in the recycling race), it has been suggested that the U.S. make very clearly demarcated waste receptacles with a wider range of categories easily accessible by the public across the country, as well as in individual homes. Germany has bottle recycling machines located at most grocery stores throughout the country. South Korea and Hong Kong have battery and electronic disposal bins at train stations and other public locations.

Greater education about what can and cannot be recycled (e.g., cereal boxes vs. greasy hamburger wrappers) and how to prepare items for recycling (e.g., thorough cleaning of food debris) can improve recycling rates by causing less issues at the recycling plant. According to Waste Management, the largest processor of residential recycling in North America, 25 percent of items sent for recycling should actually be trashed. However, China’s Green Fence policy now requires only 0.5 percent contamination, leading the country to reject many more recycling shipments than historically accepted. 

In addition to improved education and public waste sorting options, there are policy options that can be utilized to increase recycling rates. In many European countries, such as Switzerland, recycling is free, but garbage disposal costs money. In Germany, retailers and manufacturers have to pay for a green dot on their packaging with more packaging leading to more fees, incentivizing businesses to reduce the amount of packaging they use. 

New Methods of Recycling

In addition to improving the rates of recycling in arguably the most consumer-driven country on the planet, there are new ways of recycling that can reduce waste overall. For instance, faster and more accurate sorting technology could make the process more efficient. This is one technology that claims to do just that, though we cannot vouch for its efficacy. 

There are also natural methods for processing waste. For instance, phytoremediation relies on plants to remove, degrade or contain contaminants in soil, sludge, sediments and water. In the Netherlands, one company has used biological treatment to clean water, ultimately reducing water use by 50 percent. Cereol in Germany relies on enzymes to degum vegetable oil as a replacement for potentially dangerous acids or large amounts of water, thus reducing water use by 92 percent and waste sludge by 88 percent. 

There is currently research underway to apply similar principles to plastics. A team at Kyoto University, for instance, has isolated a bacteria that can digest PET. Yale researchers have discovered a species of fungi that can digest polyurethane. 

As we discussed in our posts on polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and other bioplastics, it’s possible to generate polymers from bacteria. We can even envision the possibility of creating a circular economy in which bacteria are used to digest waste to create new usable biopolymers. In our next post, we will discuss the concept of a circular economy in greater depth, including such possibilities. 

[Feature image courtesy of RitaE on Pixabay.]

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