If there is one country Africa that has seriously ventured into the 3D printing sector with active participation, it is South Africa.
Since 2012, the country at the located at the bottom of the African continent has covered significant ground in developing along with the 3D printing technology. Many international renowned 3D printer manufacturers and suppliers have set up a base engaging several local South African companies in their reseller programs and through distributorship deals. There are over fifteen companies in South Africa directly involved in 3D printing services and such a number is a good one from an African perspective.
3D printed Jawbone implant
South Africa is relatively well developed when compared to other African states and this propels an appetite for advanced technology and so it has been comparatively easy for the development of a 3D printing landscape in South Africa. And they have been proud pioneers in the development and implementation of the technology. In 2014, South African doctors successfully completed jawbone replacement surgery using 3D printed titanium bones and at that time it was the second time such an exercise was done anywhere in the world.
South Africa’s Aeroswift 3D printer
On top of the previously mentioned success story, South Africa through the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in partnership with Aerusud, an aviation manufacturing company have built one of the world’s biggest printers under a project dubbed Aeroswift. The printer has capability to print tiny items to large customized parts as tall as 2m. The other beauty is the use of titanium powder which lets parts be used for aerospace.
Another 3D printing development worth mentioning is the creation of South Africa’s very own 3D printer: the Robobeast. This a 3D printer made in South Africa by South Africans and a world class home grown solution, something Africa needs for true inspiration. To my understanding, the printer is considered to be a competitive machine on the market and this makes it worthwhile to mention this.
South Africa’s 3D printing ecosystem has enjoyed a thriving community of enthusiasts and designers and this has been supported by a local tech site called Hypertext which has published creation stories of 3D printed items in South Africa so as to keep abreast with the local development and activities.
From a South African industrial perspective, the availability of 3D printing services is of great importance especially when it comes to customizing spare parts and prototyping. South Africa’s manufacturing space is one of the big benefactors of the technology and it solves the supply chain issue regarding spares considering how far they are from the European Hub.
Robobeast 3D printer
The continuous application of 3D printing technology in South Africa further strengthens the growth of the market and its pretty much definite that 3D printing is and will continue to thrive in this Sub Sahara part of the world. Coming from a neighboring country to South Africa, I believe they have done extremely well and they are a true inspiration in the support and development of the technology. There is great potential from South Africa and they equally can be considered as one of the leading African nation in spearheading the advancement of 3D printing.
Job creation and entrepreneurial support is of paramount importance in Africa and 3D printing is slowly and very surely addressing this as is evident with the South Africa’s technology hub with small initiatives and start-ups emerging with a bias of 3D printing services.
The technology is there and the future is bright for South Africa. In Africa, one can currently look down south for technological solutions to technical problems. From a funding point of view, South Africa has done well to the extent that the Government has made strides to make 3D printing a Government strategy. As they say “Proudly South African” and thumbs up to their 3D printing landscape.
Chinese scientists are delving further into successful bioprinting in ‘3D printing of complex GelMA-based scaffolds with nanoclay,’ exploring why photo-crosslinkable gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) has become so enticing for researchers attempting to engineer tissue. In a realm rife with obstacles, however, GelMA is no exception—constricted by viscosity issues and long cross-linking time.
The authors decided to bolster the ink further with nanoclay, in the hopes of being able to print stable, complex scaffolds. During this study, they evaluated windows for printability, issues with porosity and mechanical strength, and biocompatibility.
Obviously, without cell viability, there is no bioink and there are no spectacular innovations to write about. A wide range of hydrogels have been used successfully, with alginate commonly involved due to rapid crosslinking speed. Here, however, the researchers explain that alginate is not always conducive to attachment of cells or good function. Gelatin methacrylate (GelMA), however, is known to crosslink easily during light exposure. The researchers point out also that it maintains the biocompatibility of gelatin.
In attempting to overcome multiple issues with the use of GelMA, such as low viscosity and extensive time required for cross-linking, they examined the use of pre-crosslinking, post-crosslinking, in-situ crosslinking, and two-step crosslinking. Ultimately, the consensus was that all the methods were unsuitable, resulting in inferior stability. With the addition of nanoclay, however, the authors discovered that the ink had higher viscosity, and the GelMA scaffolds had better shape fidelity.
“After extrusion, the nanoclay rapidly converted to the gel state upon the release of shear stress, thereby forming stable hydrogel filament,” stated the authors. “Finally, the 3D structure was printed layer-by-layer by stacking the filament, and the GelMA within the filament was covalently crosslinked under UV light, resulting in a stable scaffold.”
3D printing strategy of complex scaffolds with GelMA/Nanoclay ink. (A) Schematic illustration of printing scaffolds with GelMA/Nanoclay ink: (I) preparing GelMA/Nanoclay ink, (II) extruding filament based on the thixotropy property of nanoclay, and (III) printing structure based on the photo-crosslinking of GelMA. (B) Rheological properties of the GelMA/Nanoclay ink: (I) flow behavior of 4% nanoclay, 10% GelMA, 10/3% GelMA/Nanoclay, 10/4% GelMA/Nanoclay, and 10/6% GelMA/Nanoclay, (II) the viscosity-shear rate, and (III) the shear moduli-angular frequency of the respective biomaterial inks.
They also found that nanoclay at higher levels resulted in less expansion due to more shear stress, meaning that nanoclay with higher concentration needed greater yield stress for deformation. In further discussion, the authors states that greater balance needs to researched for printing with GelMA/Nanoclay, and that so far, they surmise that if ‘cell-laden structures’ are to be directly 3D printed, they are forced to give up shape fidelity. Along with that, greater control is required of the following:
Mechanical strength
Degradation rate
Tissue regeneration capacity
“Through systematic experiments that included rheological testing, printability analysis, property characterization, and biocompatibility characterization, we have answered several fundamental questions relating to this ink, including the formation mechanism for shear-thinning and rapid-gelling and the printability window for the fabrication of complex GelMA scaffolds, as well as showing that the addition of nanoclay improved the basic properties and had no effect on the excellent biological performance of the scaffolds,” concluded the researchers.
“Therefore, this method provides an easy way to fabricate complex GelMA-based scaffolds with good shape fidelity. It is very likely that this method will have versatile applications in the individualized therapy of tissue defects.”
Printability analysis of GelMA/Nanoclay ink with regard to the extrusion process. (A) Schematic illustration of the expansion phenomenon and definition α = D/d.(B) Effect of the nozzle diameter on (I) the extruded filament diameter, and (II) α. (C) Effect of the flow rate on (I) the extruded filament diameter, and (II) α.
The world of tissue engineering and bioprinting is rich in a variety of scaffolds, and while here we have learned more about the use of GelMA-based scaffolds, researchers around the world are constantly experimenting with new ways to sustain cells and make inks that are cell-laden. We have followed studies regarding transparent bioinks for fabricating corneas, making neural tissue, and 3D printing complex structures like alginate/gelatin hydrogels. 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.
Photograph of the printed scaffolds with various shapes. (A) Abbreviation of Zhejiang University. (B) A bionic ear. (C)A branched vessel.
There’s now less than a week to go before we close submissions to the 2019 3D Printing Industry Awards Trophy Design Challenge in collaboration with Protolabs. This year, we designers can stretch their imaginations by designing a two-part object to be made using both Multi Jet Fusion (MFJ) and stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing processes. For […]
I got this idea to design a working 3D printed projector after watching a video by Maker’s Muse where he showcased the Geneva Mechanism. I honestly didn’t know if this would work at all so I am happy with how it turned out. The video will explain everything. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc81sqo9URs
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!
Little demo of my 3D printed’s Mickey magic wand. The 1st interest is to code your own animations with the power of the tiny Adafruit Gemma M0! Designed with FreeCAD software.
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!
Thanks to Ross Bishop for his fantastic design (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3402220).
I made some small improvments, to avoid dust and to store 6, 8 and 10 filters.
You need a bit sanding after the print to get the perfect fit for the slides.
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!
As we mature as an industry standardization, advocacy, legal issues, regulatory issues and challenges beyond our current expertise lie at our horizon. We will at one point be blamed for something horrible and we will also face some regulatory pressure. At this moment periodic knee jerk legislation via PR is being foisted upon us. Who will help spread the truth about 3D printing and who will do advocacy on our behalf? One organization that has been growing steadily is Flam3D. Initially funded to promote the 3D printing industry in Flanders it has spread throughout Belgium and the Netherlands to connect and educate 3D printing businesses. Present at events, connecting people and bringing together information and companies Flam3D may just be that organization that connects us.
Flam3D is a network association for and by companies and research institutes active in the Additive Manufacturing Supply Chain and Ecosystem. It’s a demand-driven, bottom-up initiative now gathering over 100 members in the Netherlands and Flanders. We unite, represent and support, we connect and disseminate. Nowadays, I suppose you’d call it NAAAS – Networking & Advocacy-As A Service.
How are you funded?
Our deliberate choice to not play an active role in the AM supply chain makes it impossible for us to develop any real business. And that’s a good thing. As we say it: we don’t sell, we don’t produce, we don’t do research: our members do. Financially not the easiest choice, but we’re supported by membership fees and the Flemish Government. In view of the increasing success of the organisation, we’re looking for additional sources for funding in order to be able to offer a stable Return on Investment for our members. And to continue working on the dozens of ideas generated by our members.
What do you hope to achieve?
As most organisations, we should aim at making ourselves obsolete: when there’s no need for information on AM any more, when there are no more common interests to defend, when all children in school have AM in their curricula, we will have succeeded. I suppose we won’t be jobless any time soon though.
In the meantime: we aim for more growth of Additive Manufacturing in general, and for our members in particular. More than half of our members report extra business through their membership of Flam3D – that’s a prime “Performance Indicator” for us.
What events do you organize?
Networking and matchmaking in all kinds of disguises. The main aim remains the same: how do we get people to consider AM – and in some cases to reconsider it. You can name it dissemination events, information sessions, networking evenings, conferences, symposia, etc… but the name is just depending on the audience and their expectations.
What is holding companies back from adopting 3D Printing?
If you can demonstrate the Return on Investment, the value of the technology: nothing. Obviously, there are the usual excuses or reasons: time, money, complexity of the technology, steep learning curve required, reluctance to change, etc… But does it really matter? We think it doesn’t: as soon as the automotive sector, for example, was convinced of the potential, there wasn’t any valid reason not to start implementing AM. It’s a sales job, really, yet we’re not selling sand in the desert. We’re selling cars when some people are still asking for faster horses.
Now it seems that in order to do well companies have to master the boring stuff: ISO, compliance, accounting. Would you agree?
They’d better. I’d say it’s perhaps possible to achieve major growth without looking at “the boring stuff”. But in order to stay relevant, you’ll have to master these issues. For one reason: AM is still mainly relevant in high-tech sectors: medical, aerospace, automotive – that’s not the type of sectors where you can ignore regulations, rules and compliance. Nowadays the regulatory landscape forces any business to seriously consider this.
Where is our technology going?
Towards a standard manufacturing technology. It will all take quite a while – getting the standards right, knowing which technology to use for which application, etc. But in the end, a number of AM-technologies will be standard manufacturing practice.
So far we’ve done really well without government involvement, should we engage governments more?
Yes. But…
We should tell them (even more) what the playground looks like and explain the rules of this new game: what is the potential in medical applications? How can it support greener economies? Where should they aim?
We should also sell 3D-printing to them: what’s in it for them? A lot, in my perspective. To put it negatively: a government that doesn’t engage in new technologies will end up with a less competitive industry and economy.
However, I don’t intend to say to governments should start handing out subsidies and funding. And as it seems to be impossible to define what a good subsidy looks like, I’d say: on the contrary. Rather, they could create “ponds” for the ecosystem to develop: regulatory and tax shelter options where innovations get chances. They could also speed up the process of renewing outdated laws and regulations.
Lastly, governments could have a huge impact on education; I really can’t understand why this isn’t a matter of months rather than years, or why we even need to promote the idea.
Why should I become a member? What will you do for me?
There’s only one reason to become a member: if you see added value for yourself. Obviously we have a standard offer to our members – basically consisting of internal networking (between members), external networking (from members to potential users) and “other” (in which we help on our members’ marketing and communications, we work on education, insurance, discounts for members, etc).
We don’t exclude future expansion of our organisation, but at this moment, we’re targeting Flanders and the Netherlands only. Therefore, we have little to offer to companies and organisations outside this region; we rather cooperate with them then seeing them as potential members. We have, for example, found contacts for international projects, resellers for some printer providers, etc.
We have a unique model. As said earlier: we’re not taking a position inside the ecosystem. And we cooperate: we don’t duplicate or undermine efforts of other organisations, rather, we will look at potential win-win situations. That’s our strength and offers us an exceptional advantage.
Membership fees depend on the number of employees – it ranges from € 250 to € 2.500 and all details are available on our website. We didn’t want an “exclusive” club of a few wealthy companies, but rather a broad base of different specialties and types, in order to stimulate interaction.
With over 1.3 million men and women on active duty and more than 450,000 of them stationed overseas, some of them deployed to conflict zones like Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria, and 20 million U.S. veterans, it’s no wonder the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is looking for ways to meet the medical, surgical and quality-of-life needs of America’s patriots. Some of their newest programs provide treatment for traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress, suicide prevention and women veteran services, and in the past few years the VA has opened outpatient clinics, and established telemedicine, medical research and innovation to improve the lives of a diverse veteran population. One of their most promising ventures is a partnership with GE Healthcare to accelerate the use of 3D imaging in healthcare. As part of their research agreement, GE Healthcare provides the software and work stations, and the VA’s Puget Sound Health Care System provides feedback to the company on the use and results of the technology. In the past, the VA has used 3D software that wasn’t designed for medical use. Now, however, GE will provide software specifically designed for the medical field.
Together, VA and GE Healthcare will work to reduce the time it takes for radiologists to create 3D printed models and prosthetics from hours to minutes, accelerate the identification of new imaging approaches, techniques, needed materials and post processing steps to enhance the health of the nation’s veterans. Through this partnership, GE will be able to help clinicians explore many different opportunities to use additive manufacturing across care areas, partnering with the VA’s innovation team, already engaged with printer manufacturers. As a company offering diagnostic imaging modalities, advanced visualization products, and in partnership with GE Additive metal printers and materials, GE Healthcare is uniquely positioned to support the VA’s investigations across the image-to-print workflow.
Building on its 3D printing network, VA Puget Sound and the Veterans Health Administration Innovators Network integrate GE Healthcare’s advanced visualization AW VolumeShare workstations with 3D printing software across its facilities in Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Cleveland and Salt Lake City. The AW Server is a medical software system that allows multiple users to remotely access AW applications from compatible computers on a network. The system allows networking, selection, processing and filming of multimodality DICOM images. VA has started to use AW VolumeShare 7 last november, a multi-modality image review, comparison, and processing workstation with simplicity and power at its core, featuring 64-bit technology that allows processing of up to 5K images in a single dataset.
3DPrint.com spoke to Colin Holmes, Senior Director, Additive & Visualization at GE Healthcare, about the advantages of working with GE’s Advanced Visualization Workstations.
The expert in application of high performance computing infrastructures to medical imaging said that “using the AW VolumeShare 7 workstations, VA radiologists specializing in cardiology, oncology, orthopaedics and general radiology can quickly produce and critique models from patient studies as part of their normal clinical tasks.” According to Holmes, “as these radiologists are full-time practitioners, efficiency improvements with AW will allow them to spend more time focused on patient care, guided by 3D printing outputs, and less time on the labor-intensive process of producing 3D models.”
VA Puget Sound radiologist and the VHA 3D Printing Advisory Committee chair, Beth Ripley, is quite eager to join forces with GE Healthcare, although the VA has been using 3D printing for a while, the new software should save time and make the technology more accessible. Last year she said that “for most radiologists, 3D images are limited to reconstructions on a computer screen, so by harnessing the power of 3D printing with a rich data set, we are able to pull images out of the screen and into our hands, allowing us to interact with the data in a deeper way to fuel innovative, personalized care based on the unique needs of each of our patients.”
A printed knee achieved using GE’s AW VolumeShare to accelerate the 3D printing process (Image: GE Healthcare)
“Typically imaging information is most fully understood by the radiologist, who combines the patient’s medical history with imaging results interpreted through the lens of years of radiology-specific training to recreate in his mind’s eye the full anatomy. Now, the critical information held within the medical imagery can be expressed physically, augmented with colour or scaled as needed. Physical models allow the surgeons, who need to combine the medical imagery with their view of the patient in the operating room, to better contextualize and share their understanding and decisions with the full team. While, patients can better understand a disease, express questions and make more informed decisions when they can interact with the models rather than having to deal with complex verbal descriptions best suited to those with advanced medical education,” described Holmes.
VA Puget Sound Health Care System radiologist Beth Ripley performs a quality check on a model of a kidney with a cancerous tumor
At this phase of their project, the VA teams working with AW VolumeShare 7 technology are using polymer printers that come from other companies to make models to explore their impact on surgical planning, resident teaching and training, and patient education. The VA operates one of the largest health care systems in the world and provides training for a majority of America’s medical, nursing and allied health professionals, roughly 60% of all medical residents obtain a portion of their training at VA hospitals. The VA health care system has grown from 54 hospitals in 1930 to 1,600 health care facilities today, including 144 VA Medical Centers and 1,232 outpatient sites of care. As the largest integrated health care system in the country, the VA not only cares for U.S. Veterans, but can advance change and positively disrupt the way America delivers health care.
The VA has been using 3D printing for some years now. From developing a 3D printed artificial lung that could help treat veterans affected by lung disease at VA Ann Arbor Health Care System, to reproducing near-exact replicas of body parts for Veterans using any of the five Stratasys 3D printers at VA hospitals in Seattle, Albuquerque, San Antonio, Boston and Orlando. Stratasys even went a step further and introduced AM job training and certification initiatives for the military veterans at San Diego.
A printed baby heart achieved using GE’s AW VolumeShare to accelerate the 3D printing process (Image: GE Healthcare)
GE Healthcare, made $17 billion in revenues last year and is one of the world’s top three med-tech companies by size. It has the world’s largest installed base in imaging, mobile diagnostics and monitoring, with over 4 million systems in use worldwide and a leading portfolio of contrast media and nuclear medicine agents that enhance the acuity of diagnostic imaging systems, these pharmaceutical diagnostics are used in three patients every second around the world.
“We have been on our Additive Journey for nearly six years, and a lot of our early investments into additive technology and people were focused on printing polymer structures which fit well in the medical model printing space. Over time we have been partnering with our Imaging teams to further accelerate the process to go from a medical image scan to a printed medical model,” described Holmes. Additive manufacturing is an evolving tool across the GE spectrum, from providing optimizations and innovation for parts in their leading imaging systems to new ways to explore, learn and share understanding of the data they generate.
So, how do we expect hospitals and medical research facilities -like VA Puget- will advance patient healthcare into the next decade? According to Holmes, leading research and teaching hospitals are almost all engaged in early work to incorporate additive manufacturing into their programs, from basic science to enhanced education, combined with AR and VR, to new diagnostic and therapeutic tools.
“As healthcare begins to benefit from the fourth wave of industrialization, these new combined digital and manufacturing approaches are tremendously exciting as enablers and accelerators of much broader access to current healthcare standards worldwide,” he revealed.
Considering this is an investigation in early stages and there are still no quantified outcomes, only time will tell the degree to which this will improve the lives of over 110,000 veterans across the nine facilities of VA Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest. However, it is safe to say that 3D printing technology is already improving patient experience, reducing treatment time and decreasing the cost of care for the millions of veterans in the United States, as well as patients worldwide. Most doctors are starting to see the benefits of moving from flat layered images to the replicated organic structures they will encounter in the operating room, and patients can understand a 3D print much better than a CT or an MRI scan. Right now, only about 3% of hospitals and research institutions have 3D printing capabilities on site, but at the rate it has advanced in the last couple of years we can expect a future widening use of the technology.
Nexxt Spine, an Indiana-based medical device manufacturer, has expanded its metal 3D printing capabilities with the installation of two Concept Laser Mlab 100R systems from GE Additive. The pair of machines are the fourth and fifth additive manufacturing acquisition from the company since 2017 and will support the design and production of Nexxt Spine’s spinal fusion […]
