Hot form quench

Hot Form Quench (HFQ®) is an industrial forming process for the production of deep drawn, precise and complex geometry ultra-high strength aluminium sheet components. It is a hot stamping process for certain grades of aluminium and has similarities to the press hardening of ultra-high strength steels. HFQ exploits viscoplasticity of aluminium at high temperatures to facilitate the production of lightweight structures, often replacing steel, composites, castings, extrusions or multiple cold formed pressings.
Hot Form Quench (HFQ) is a hot forming process for high strength aluminium sheet (typically) 2x, 6x and 7x series alloys, that was initially developed in the early 2000s by Professors Jianguo Lin and Trevor Dean at the University of Birmingham and then at Imperial College London, both in the UK.
Impression Technologies Limited (ITL), a materials technology company based in Coventry, UK, has exclusive commercialisation rights for HFQ, and has since developed its own additional know-how and rights in this domain. At the same time as the first HFQ applications were adopted in automotive applications (the Aston Martin DB11) in 2016, other organisations in the lightweighting ecosystem joined Impression Technologies on a Horizon 2020 programme called LoCoMaTech with an aim to take the HFQ Technology towards mass volume applications. ITL has since started licensing the HFQ Technology around the world to manufacturers supplying the automotive and aerospace sectors.
Process.
Hot forming of aluminium alloys consists of four main steps performed on a custom-shaped sheet blank: solutionising, blank transfer, quenching and forming, and artificial aging. In the solutionising step, the blank is heated in a furnace to a temperature where the precipitates in the material dissolve. The solutionising ovens are most effective when designed with forced convection, which is a difference to those used for press hardened steel lines.
The pressing operation is carried out in a high speed hydraulic, servo-hydraulic or servo press in which the forming tool is cooled to create the necessary quenching to maintain the alloying elements in solid solution. The subsequent ageing process enables precipitation and increases the strength of the components to the required level, typically 300 to 500MPa yield, depending on the aluminium alloy used. Customised proprietary ageing processes have been developed to optimise corrosion performance and/or downstream joining properties
Following the HFQ process, parts can be in-die trimmed or laser trimmed as is typical for press hardened steel parts, dependant on production volume. It is usual for volumes below 10,000 parts per annum to be laser trimmed because of the high cost of the trim tooling; or for higher volumes if flexibility is required for future design changes, such as hole positioning.
Although a key benefit of the HFQ process is to enable the production of complex, deep drawn pressings in a single forming operation, it is possible to perform secondary cold pressing operations after the HFQ stage if required.
Applications.
HFQ is used where light-weighting and high levels of part integration are required where aluminium sheet is considered a suitable technical and economic proposition. HFQ can be a solution for applications ranging from several hundred to millions of parts per annum. Aluminium sheet thickness ideal for HFQ range from 0.8mm to 5.0mm.
Typical HFQ applications target Body-in-White (BIW) structures and closures including A and B pillars, door rings, cross members, sills, dash panels, rear quarter inners, door inners, tailgate inners and under shields. Recently there has been significant interest in the use of HFQ for battery lids and casings for electric vehicles. Alloys used for these applications include the 6x and 7x series such as 6111, 6082, 6016 and 7075.
Aerospace applications are being developed that include lip skins, nacelles, fairings, wing ribs and seats. Other transportation sector applications include electric bicycles, motorcycles, and rail structures.
In other sectors, HFQ has been considered to replace heavy castings and machined components, currently made from aluminium where light-weighting or material utilisation are critical factors.
A critical consideration in the design of HFQ components is ensuring that the forming simulation is accurate, which is greatly influenced by the quality of the material cards for each alloy and the type of lubricant used.
Advantages and disadvantages.
HFQ’s main advantage is superior formability for ultra-high strength aluminium alloys, that would otherwise split during conventional cold forming. This leads to extremely deep drawn parts (can be >300mm), sharp radii (r/t of 0.8 of has been demonstrated) and high levels of part integration versus cold formed pressings. In addition, HFQ enables the manufacture of parts from high and ultra-high strength aluminium, which for strength dominant applications facilitates significant weight reductions of circa 20% versus some lower strength cold formed aluminium alloys. When compared to superplastic forming, which is well-established, HFQ can offer significantly higher production speeds (of up to 4 parts per minute) and a wider range of aluminium grades. Secondary benefits of HFQ include the ability to use lower cost and more widely available F Temper alloy feedstocks and even use highly recycled alloys.
The main disadvantage of HFQ compared to cold forming is a higher cycle time, although the technology is now being utilised for medium/high volume applications as its adoption becomes more widespread.


Design for verification

Design for verification (DfV) is a set of engineering guidelines to aid designers in ensuring right first time manufacturing and assembly of large-scale components. The guidelines were developed as a tool to inform and direct designers during early stage design phases to trade off estimated measurement uncertainty against tolerance, cost, assembly, measurability and product requirements.
Background.
Increased competition in the aerospace market has placed additional demands on aerospace manufacturers to reduce costs, increase product flexibility and improve manufacturing efficiency. There is a knowledge gap within the sphere of digital to physical dimensional verification and on how to successfully achieve dimensional specifications within real-world assembly factories that are subject to varying environmental conditions.
The DfV framework is an engineering principle to be used within low rate and high value and complexity manufacturing industries to aid in achieving high productivity in assembly via the effective dimensional verification of large volume structures, during final assembly. The DfV framework has been developed to enable engineers to design and plan the effective dimensional verification of large volume, complex structures in order to reduce failure rates and end-product costs, improve process integrity and efficiency, optimise metrology processes, decrease tooling redundancy and increase product quality and conformance to specification. The theoretical elements of the DfV methods were published in 2016, together with their testing using industrial case studies of representative complexity. The industrial tests published on ScienceDirect proved that by using the new design for verification methods alongside the traditional ‘design for X’ toolbox, the resultant process achieved improved tolerance analysis and synthesis, optimized large volume metrology and assembly processes and more cost-effective tool and jig design.


Applications of 3D printing

In recent years, 3D printing has developed significantly and can now perform crucial roles in many applications, with the most common applications being manufacturing, medicine, architecture, custom art and design, and can vary from fully functional to purely aesthetic applications.
3D printing processes are finally catching up to their full potential, and are currently being used in manufacturing and medical industries, as well as by sociocultural sectors which facilitate 3D printing for commercial purposes. There has been a lot of hype in the last decade when referring to the possibilities we can achieve by adopting 3D printing as one of the main manufacturing technologies. Utilizing this technology would replace traditional methods that can be costly and time consuming. There have been case studies outlining how the customization abilities of 3D printing through modifiable files have been beneficial for cost and time effectiveness in a healthcare applications.
There are different types of 3D printing such as Fused filament fabrication (FFF), Stereolithography (SLA), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), polyjet printing, Multi-Jet Fusion (MJF), Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), and Electron Beam Melting (EBM).
For a long time, the issue with 3D printing was that it has demanded very high entry costs, which does not allow profitable implementation to mass-manufacturers when compared to standard processes. However, recent market trends spotted have found that this is finally changing. As the market for 3D printing has shown some of the quickest growth within the manufacturing industry in recent years. The applications of 3D printing are vast due to the ability to print complex pieces with a use of a wide range of materials. Materials can range from plastic and polymers as thermoplastic filaments, to resins, and even stem cells.
Manufacturing applications.
AM technologies found applications starting in the 1980s in product development, data visualization, rapid prototyping, and specialized manufacturing. Their expansion into production (job production, mass production, and distributed manufacturing) has been under development in the decades since. Industrial production roles within the metalworking industries achieved significant scale for the first time in the early 2010s. Since the start of the 21st century there has been a large growth in the sales of AM machines, and their price has dropped substantially. According to Wohlers Associates, a consultancy, the market for 3D printers and services was worth $2.2 billion worldwide in 2012, up 29% from 2011. McKinsey predicts that additive manufacturing could have an economic impact of $550 billion annually by 2025. There are many applications for AM technologies, including architecture, construction (AEC), industrial design, automotive, aerospace, military, engineering, dental and medical industries, biotech (human tissue replacement), fashion, footwear, jewelry, eyewear, education, geographic information systems, food, and many other fields.
Additive manufacturing's earliest applications have been on the toolroom end of the manufacturing spectrum. For example, rapid prototyping was one of the earliest additive variants, and its mission was to reduce the lead time and cost of developing prototypes of new parts and devices, which was earlier only done with subtractive toolroom methods such as CNC milling and turning, and precision grinding, far more accurate than 3d printing with accuracy down to 0.00005" and creating better quality parts faster, but sometimes too expensive for low accuracy prototype parts. With technological advances in additive manufacturing, however, and the dissemination of those advances into the business world, additive methods are moving ever further into the production end of manufacturing in creative and sometimes unexpected ways. Parts that were formerly the sole province of subtractive methods can now in some cases be made more profitably via additive ones. In addition, new developments in RepRap technology allow the same device to perform both additive and subtractive manufacturing by swapping magnetic-mounted tool heads.
Cloud-based additive manufacturing.
Additive manufacturing in combination with cloud computing technologies allows decentralized and geographically independent distributed production. Cloud-based additive manufacturing refers to a service-oriented networked manufacturing model in which service consumers are able to build parts through Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Distributed manufacturing as such is carried out by some enterprises; there is also a services like 3D Hubs that put people needing 3D printing in contact with owners of printers.
Some companies offer online 3D printing services to both commercial and private customers, working from 3D designs uploaded to the company website. 3D-printed designs are either shipped to the customer or picked up from the service provider.
There are many open source websites that have downloadable STL files which are able to be modified or printed as is. Files ranging from functional tools to aesthetic figurines are available to the general public. Open source files can be beneficial for the user as the printed object can be more cost effective than commercial counterparts.
Mass customization.
Companies have created services where consumers can customize objects using simplified web based customization software, and order the resulting items as 3D printed unique objects. This now allows consumers to create custom cases for their mobile phones. Nokia has released the 3D designs for its case so that owners can customize their own case and have it 3D printed.
Rapid manufacturing.
Advances in RP technology have introduced materials that are appropriate for final manufacture, which has in turn introduced the possibility of directly manufacturing finished components. One advantage of 3D printing for rapid manufacturing lies in the relatively inexpensive production of small numbers of parts.
Rapid manufacturing is a new method of manufacturing and many of its processes remain unproven. 3D printing is now entering the field of rapid manufacturing and was identified as a "next level" technology by many experts in a 2009 report. One of the most promising processes looks to be the adaptation of selective laser sintering (SLS), or direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) some of the better-established rapid prototyping methods. , however, these techniques were still very much in their infancy, with many obstacles to be overcome before RM could be considered a realistic manufacturing method.
There have been patent lawsuits concerning 3-D printing for manufacturing.
Rapid prototyping.
Industrial 3D printers have existed since the early 1980s and have been used extensively for rapid prototyping and research purposes. These are generally larger machines that use proprietary powdered metals, casting media (e.g. sand), plastics, paper or cartridges, and are used for rapid prototyping by universities and commercial companies.
Research.
3D printing can be particularly useful in research labs due to its ability to make specialized, bespoke geometries. In 2012 a proof of principle project at the University of Glasgow, UK, showed that it is possible to use 3D printing techniques to assist in the production of chemical compounds. They first printed chemical reaction vessels, then used the printer to deposit reactants into them. They have produced new compounds to verify the validity of the process, but have not pursued anything with a particular application.
Usually, the FDM process is used to print hollow reaction vessels or microreactors. If the 3D print is performed within an inert gas atmosphere, the reaction vessels can be filled with highly reactive substances during the print. The 3D printed objects are air- and watertight for several weeks. By the print of reaction vessels in the geometry of common cuvettes or measurement tubes, routine analytical measurements such as UV/VIS-, IR- and NMR-spectroscopy can be performed directly in the 3D printed vessel.
In addition, 3D printing has been used in research labs as alternative method to manufacture components for use in experiments, such as magnetic shielding and vacuum components with demonstrated performance comparable to traditionally produced parts.
Food.
Additive manufacturing of food is being developed by squeezing out food, layer by layer, into three-dimensional objects. A large variety of foods are appropriate candidates, such as chocolate and candy, and flat foods such as crackers, pasta, and pizza. NASA has considered the versatility of the concept, awarding a contract to the Systems and Materials Research Consultancy to study the feasibility of printing food in space. NASA is also looking into the technology in order to create 3D printed food to limit food waste and to make food that are designed to fit an astronaut's dietary needs. A food-tech startup Novameat from Barcelona 3D-printed a steak from peas, rice, seaweed, and some other ingredients that were laid down criss-cross, imitating the intracellular proteins. One of the problems with food printing is the nature of the texture of a food. For example, foods that are not strong enough to be filed are not appropriate for 3D printing.
Agile tooling.
Agile tooling is the process of using modular means to design tooling that is produced by additive manufacturing or 3D printing methods to enable quick prototyping and responses to tooling and fixture needs. Agile tooling uses a cost-effective and high-quality method to quickly respond to customer and market needs. It can be used in hydro-forming, stamping, injection molding and other manufacturing processes.
Medical applications.
Surgical uses of 3D printing-centric therapies have a history beginning in the mid-1990s with anatomical modeling for bony reconstructive surgery planning. By practicing on a tactile model before surgery, surgeons were more prepared and patients received better care. Patient-matched implants were a natural extension of this work, leading to truly personalized implants that fit one unique individual. Virtual planning of surgery and guidance using 3D printed, personalized instruments have been applied to many areas of surgery including total joint replacement and craniomaxillofacial reconstruction with great success. Further study of the use of models for planning heart and solid organ surgery has led to increased use in these areas. Hospital-based 3D printing is now of great interest and many institutions are pursuing adding this specialty within individual radiology departments. The technology is being used to create unique, patient-matched devices for rare illnesses. One example of this is the bioresorbable trachial splint to treat newborns with tracheobronchomalacia developed at the University of Michigan. Several devices manufacturers have also begun using 3D printing for patient-matched surgical guides (polymers). The use of additive manufacturing for serialized production of orthopedic implants (metals) is also increasing due to the ability to efficiently create porous surface structures that facilitate osseointegration. Printed casts for broken bones can be custom-fitted and open, letting the wearer scratch any itches, wash and ventilate the damaged area. They can also be recycled.
Fused filament fabrication (FFF) has been used to create microstructures with a three-dimensional internal geometry. Sacrificial structures or additional support materials are not needed. Structure using polylactic acid (PLA) can have fully controllable porosity in the range 20%–60%. Such scaffolds could serve as biomedical templates for cell culturing, or biodegradable implants for tissue engineering.
3D printing has been used to print patient-specific implant and device for medical use. Successful operations include a titanium pelvis implanted into a British patient, titanium lower jaw transplanted to a Dutch patient, and a plastic tracheal splint for an American infant. The hearing aid and dental industries are expected to be the biggest areas of future development using custom 3D printing technology. In March 2014, surgeons in Swansea used 3D printed parts to rebuild the face of a motorcyclist who had been seriously injured in a road accident. Research is also being conducted on methods to bio-print replacements for lost tissue due to arthritis and cancer .
3D printing technology can now be used to make exact replicas of organs. The printer uses images from patients' MRI or CT scan images as a template and lays down layers of rubber or plastic. These models can be used to plan difficult operations, as was the case in May 2018, when surgeons used a 3D printed replica of a kidney to practice a kidney transplant on a three-year-old boy.
Thermal degradation during 3D printing of resorbable polymers, same as in surgical sutures, has been studied, and parameters can be adjusted to minimize the degradation during processing. Soft pliable scaffold structures for cell cultures can be printed.
In 3D printing, computer-simulated microstructures are commonly used to fabricate objects with spatially varying properties. This is achieved by dividing the volume of the desired object into smaller subcells using computer aided simulation tools and then filling these cells with appropriate microstructures during fabrication. Several different candidate structures with similar behaviours are checked against each other and the object is fabricated when an optimal set of structures are found. Advanced topology optimization methods are used to ensure the compatibility of structures in adjacent cells. This flexible approach to 3D fabrication is widely used across various disciplines from biomedical sciences where they are used to create complex bone structures and human tissue to robotics where they are used in the creation of soft robots with movable parts. 3D printing also finds its uses more and more in design and fabrication of laboratory apparatuses.
3D printing technology can also be used to produce personal protective equipment, also known as PPE, is worn by medical and laboratory professionals to protect themselves from infection when they are treating patients. Examples of PPE include face masks, face shields, connectors, gowns, and goggles. The most popular forms of 3D printed PPE are face masks, face shields, and connectors.
Nowadays, Additive Manufacturing is also employed in the field of pharmaceutical sciences. Different techniques of 3D printing (e.g. FDM, SLS, Inkjet Printing etc) are utilized according to their respective advantages and drawbacks for various applications regarding drug delivery.
Bio-printing.
In 2006, researchers at Cornell University published some of the pioneer work in 3D printing for tissue fabrication, successfully printing hydrogel bio-inks. The work at Cornell was expanded using specialized bioprinters produced by Seraph Robotics, Inc., a university spin-out, which helped to catalyze a global interest in biomedical 3D printing research.
3D printing has been considered as a method of implanting stem cells capable of generating new tissues and organs in living humans. With their ability to transform into any other kind of cell in the human body, stem cells offer huge potential in 3D bioprinting. Professor Leroy Cronin of Glasgow University proposed in a 2012 TED Talk that it was possible to use chemical inks to print medicine. In 2015 the FDA approved Spritam ®, a 3D printed drug also known as levetiracetam. Currently, there are three methods of 3D printing that have been explored for the production of drug making: laser based writing systems, printing-based inkjet systems, and nozzle based systems.
, 3D bio-printing technology has been studied by biotechnology firms and academia for possible use in tissue engineering applications in which organs and body parts are built using inkjet techniques. In this process, layers of living cells are deposited onto a gel medium or sugar matrix and slowly built up to form three-dimensional structures including vascular systems. The first production system for 3D tissue printing was delivered in 2009, based on NovoGen bioprinting technology. Several terms have been used to refer to this field of research: organ printing, bio-printing, body part printing, and computer-aided tissue engineering, among others. The possibility of using 3D tissue printing to create soft tissue architectures for reconstructive surgery is also being explored.
In 2013, Chinese scientists began printing ears, livers and kidneys, with living tissue. Researchers in China have been able to successfully print human organs using specialized 3D bioprinters that use living cells instead of plastic . Researchers at Hangzhou Dianzi University designed the "3D bioprinter" dubbed the "Regenovo". Xu Mingen, Regenovo's developer, said that it can produce a miniature sample of liver tissue or ear cartilage in less than an hour, predicting that fully functional printed organs might take 10 to 20 years to develop.
Medical devices.
On October 24, 2014, a five-year-old girl born without fully formed fingers on her left hand became the first child in the UK to have a prosthetic hand made with 3D printing technology. Her hand was designed by US-based e-NABLE, an open source design organisation which uses a network of volunteers to design and make prosthetics mainly for children. The prosthetic hand was based on a plaster cast made by her parents. A boy named Alex was also born with a missing arm from just above the elbow. The team was able to use 3D printing to upload an e-NABLE Myoelectric arm that runs off of servos and batteries that are actuated by the electromyography muscle. With the use of 3D printers, e-NABLE has so far distributed thousands of plastic hands to children. Another example is Open Bionics, a company that makes fully functional bionic arms through 3D printing technology. 3D printing allows Open Bionics to create personalized designs for their clients, as there can be different colours, textures, patterns, and even "Hero Arms" that emulate superheroes like Ironman or characters from Star Wars.
Printed prosthetics have been used in rehabilitation of crippled animals. In 2013, a 3D printed foot let a crippled duckling walk again. 3D printed hermit crab shells let hermit crabs inhabit a new style home. A prosthetic beak was another tool developed by the use of 3D printing to help aid a bald eagle named Beauty, whose beak was severely mutilated from a shot in the face. Since 2014, commercially available titanium knee implants made with 3D printer for dogs have been used to restore the animals' mobility. Over 10,000 dogs in Europe and the United States have been treated after only one year.
In February 2015, FDA approved the marketing of a surgical bolt which facilitates less-invasive foot surgery and eliminates the need to drill through bone. The 3D printed titanium device, 'FastForward Bone Tether Plate' is approved to use in correction surgery to treat bunion. In October 2015, the group of Professor Andreas Herrmann at the University of Groningen has developed the first 3D printable resins with antimicrobial properties. Employing stereolithography, quaternary ammonium groups are incorporated into dental appliances that kill bacteria on contact. This type of material can be further applied in medical devices and implants.
3D Printing has been especially beneficial for the creation of patient specific prosthetics for large or invasive surgeries. In a case study published in 2020 about the benefits of 3D printing for hip prostheses, three patients with acetabular defects needed revisions of total hip arthroplasty (THA). 3D printing was utilized to produce prostheses that were specific to each of the three patients and their complex bone defect, which resulted in better post procedure recovery and prognosis of the individual.
In a case study about the applications of 3D printing in occupational therapy, the aspect of customization and quick fabrication at a low cost is utilized in different tools such as customized scissor handles and bottle openers for someone with hand motor complications. Beverage holders, writing guides, grip strengtheners, and other occupational therapy items were designed, printed, and compared with commercially available counterparts in a cost analysis. It found that the 3D printed items were on average 10.5 times more cost effective than commercial alternatives.
3D printing for medical devices can range from human prosthetics applications, to animal prostheses, to medical machine tools: On June 6, 2011, the company Xilloc Medical together with researchers at the University of Hasselt, in Belgium had successfully printed a new jawbone for an 83-year-old Dutch woman from the province of Limburg. 3D printing has been used to produce prosthetic beaks for eagles, a Brazilian goose named Victoria, and a Costa Rican toucan called Grecia. In March 2020, the Isinnova company in Italy printed 100 respirator valves in 24 hours for a hospital that lacked them in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak. It's clear that 3D printing technology is beneficial in many areas of healthcare.
Pharmaceutical Formulations.
In May 2015 the first formulation manufactured by 3D printing was produced. In August 2015 the FDA approved the first 3D printed tablet. Binder-jetting into a powder bed of the drug allows very porous tablets to be produced, which enables high drug doses in a single formulation that rapidly dissolves and is easily absorbed. This has been demonstrated for Spritam, a reformulation of levetiracetam for the treatment of epilepsy.
Additive Manufacturing has been increasingly utilized by scientists in the pharmaceutical field. However, after the first FDA approval of a 3D printed formulation, scientific interest for 3D applications in drug delivery grew even bigger. Research groups around the world are studying different ways of incorporating drugs within a 3D printed formulation, for example by incorporating poorly water-soluble drugs in self-emulsifying systems or emulsion gels. 3D printing technology allows scientists to develop formulations with a personalized approach, i.e. dosage forms tailored specifically to an individual patient. Moreover, according to the advantages of the diverse utilized techniques, formulations with various properties can be achieved. These may contain multiple drugs in a single dosage form, multi-compartmental designs, drug delivery systems with distinct release characteristics ,etc. During the earlier years, researchers have mainly focused on the Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) technique. Nowadays, other printing techniques such as Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Stereolithography (SLA) and Semi-solid extrusion (SSE) are also gaining traction and are being used for pharmaceutical applications.
Industrial applications.
Apparel.
3D printing has entered the world of clothing with fashion designers experimenting with 3D-printed bikinis, shoes, and dresses. In commercial production Nike used 3D printing to prototype and manufactured the 2012 Vapor Laser Talon football shoe for players of American football, and New Balance is 3D manufacturing custom-fit shoes for athletes.
3D printing has come to the point where companies are printing consumer grade eyewear with on-demand custom fit and styling (although they cannot print the lenses). On-demand customization of glasses is possible with rapid prototyping.
However, comments have been made in academic circles as to the potential limitation of the human acceptance of such mass customized apparel items due to the potential reduction of brand value communication.
In the world of high fashion courtiers such as Karl Lagerfeld designing for Chanel, Iris van Herpen and Noa Raviv working with technology from Stratasys, have employed and featured 3d printing in their collections. Selections from their lines and other working with 3d printing were showcased at
the 2016 Metropolitan Museum of Art Anna Wintour Costume Center, exhibition "Manus X Machina".
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukrainian-American undergraduate Karina Popovich founded Markers for COVID-19 which used 3D printing to create face shields, face masks and other items of personal protective equipment.
Footwear.
3D Printed Footwear is a relatively new concept in the fashion industry, but it has quickly gained recognition for its innovative designs and customizable features. The history of 3D printed footwear can be traced back to the early 2000s, when 3D printing technology first became available to the public.
There are several benefits of using 3D printing technology in shoe manufacturing, including:
Overall, 3D printing technology offers several advantages to shoe manufacturers, allowing them to create more customized and innovative designs while also reducing waste and improving sustainability. As the technology continues to develop, we can expect to see even more benefits in the future.
One of the pioneers in 3D printed footwear was Janne Kyttanen, a Finnish designer who created a series of 3D printed shoes in 2008. These shoes were made using a nylon powder material and were produced using a selective laser sintering (SLS) process.
Another early adopter of 3D printed footwear was Continuum Fashion, a design company that created the first fully 3D printed shoes in 2010. These shoes were made using a combination of 3D modeling software and 3D printing technology, and were designed to be both fashionable and functional.
Feetz is a footwear company that specializes in creating custom-fit shoes using 3D printing technology. The company was founded in 2013 by entrepreneur Lucy Beard, who wanted to create a more sustainable and personalized approach to footwear. Their shoes were the first to be fully 3D printed.
In 2015, Adidas introduced its first 3D printed shoe, the Futurecraft 3D, with a midsole created using a 3D printing process called Stereolithography (SLA).
FUSED Footwear was founded in 2017, and is known for its unique and innovative shoe designs that are made using 3D printing technology. The company uses a proprietary 3D printing process that allows them to create shoes with intricate and eye-catching designs that would be difficult or impossible to achieve with traditional manufacturing methods. One of the key features of FUSED Footwear's designs is the use of a flexible, rubber-like material that conforms to the wearer's foot for a comfortable and supportive fit. This material is also durable and long-lasting, making FUSED Footwear's shoes a practical choice for everyday wear.
Started in Germany in 202, Zellerfeld uses a combination of 3D scanning and printing technologies to create custom-fit shoes for their customers. Their shoes are made using a biodegradable, eco-friendly material that is both lightweight and durable.
Overall, 3D Printed Footwear is an exciting new trend in the fashion industry that offers endless possibilities for customization and innovation. With brands like Zellerfeld and Fused Footwear leading the way, we can expect to see even more exciting developments in this field in the coming years.
Industrial art and jewelry.
3D printing is used to manufacture moulds for making jewelry, and even the jewelry itself. 3D printing is becoming popular in the customisable gifts industry, with products such as personalized models of art and dolls, in many shapes: in metal or plastic, or as consumable art, such as 3D printed chocolate.
Automotive industry.
In early 2014, Swedish supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg announced the One:1, a supercar that utilizes many components that were 3D printed. In the limited run of vehicles Koenigsegg produces, the One:1 has side-mirror internals, air ducts, titanium exhaust components, and complete turbocharger assemblies that were 3D printed as part of the manufacturing process.
Urbee is the name of the first car in the world car mounted using the technology 3D printing (its bodywork and car windows were "printed"). Created in 2010 through the partnership between the US engineering group Kor Ecologic and the company Stratasys (manufacturer of printers Stratasys 3D), it is a hybrid vehicle with futuristic look.
In 2014, Local Motors debuted Strati, a functioning vehicle that was entirely 3D Printed using ABS plastic and carbon fiber, except the powertrain. In 2015, the company produced another iteration known as the LM3D Swim that was 80 percent 3D-printed. In 2016, the company has used 3D printing in the creation of automotive parts, such ones used in Olli, a self-driving vehicle developed by the company.
In May 2015 Airbus announced that its new Airbus A350 XWB included over 1000 components manufactured by 3D printing.
3D printing is also being utilized by air forces to print spare parts for planes. In 2015, a Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet flew with printed parts. The United States Air Force has begun to work with 3D printers, and the Israeli Air Force has also purchased a 3D printer to print spare parts.
Construction, home development.
The use of 3D printing to produce scale models within architecture and construction has steadily increased in popularity as the cost of 3D printers has reduced. This has enabled faster turn around of such scale models and allowed a steady increase in the speed of production and the complexity of the objects being produced.
Construction 3D printing, the application of 3D printing to fabricate construction components or entire buildings has been in development since the mid-1990s, development of new technologies has steadily gained pace since 2012 and the sub-sector of 3D printing is beginning to mature.
Firearms.
In 2012, the US-based group Defense Distributed disclosed plans to "design a working plastic gun that could be downloaded and reproduced by anybody with a 3D printer." Defense Distributed has also designed a 3D printable AR-15 type rifle lower receiver (capable of lasting more than 650 rounds) and a 30-round M16 magazine. The AR-15 has multiple receivers (both an upper and lower receiver), but the legally controlled part is the one that is serialized (the lower, in the AR-15's case). Soon after Defense Distributed succeeded in designing the first working blueprint to produce a plastic gun with a 3D printer in May 2013, the United States Department of State demanded that they remove the instructions from their website. After Defense Distributed released their plans, questions were raised regarding the effects that 3D printing and widespread consumer-level CNC machining may have on gun control effectiveness.
In 2014, a man from Japan became the first person in the world to be imprisoned for making 3D printed firearms. Yoshitomo Imura posted videos and blueprints of the gun online and was sentenced to jail for two years. Police found at least two guns in his household that were capable of firing bullets.
Computers and robots.
3D printing can also be used to make laptops and other computers and cases. For example, Novena and VIA OpenBook standard laptop cases. I.e. a Novena motherboard can be bought and be used in a printed VIA OpenBook case.
Open-source robots are built using 3D printers. Double Robotics grant access to their technology (an open SDK). On the other hand, 3&DBot is an Arduino 3D printer-robot with wheels and ODOI is a 3D printed humanoid robot.
Soft sensors and actuators.
3D printing has found its place in soft sensors and actuators manufacturing inspired by 4D printing concept. The majority of the conventional soft sensors and actuators are fabricated using multistep low yield processes entailing manual fabrication, post-processing/assembly, and lengthy iterations with less flexibility in customization and reproducibility of final products. 3D printing has been a game changer in these fields with introducing the custom geometrical, functional, and control properties to avoid the tedious and time-consuming aspects of the earlier fabrication processes.
Space.
The Zero-G Printer, the first 3D printer designed to operate in zero gravity, was built under a joint partnership between NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Made In Space, Inc. In September 2014, SpaceX delivered the zero-gravity 3D printer to the International Space Station (ISS). On December 19, 2014, NASA emailed CAD drawings for a socket wrench to astronauts aboard the ISS, who then printed the tool using its 3D printer. Applications for space offer the ability to print parts or tools on-site, as opposed to using rockets to bring along pre-manufactured items for space missions to human colonies on the moon, Mars, or elsewhere. The second 3D printer in space, the European Space Agency's Portable On-Board 3D Printer (POP3D) was planned to be delivered to the International Space Station before June 2015. By 2019, a commercial-built recycling facility was scheduled to be sent to the International Space Station to take in plastic waste and unneeded plastic parts and convert them into spools of feedstock for the space station additive manufacturing facility to be used to build manufactured-in-space parts.
In 2016, Digital Trends reported that BeeHex was building a 3D food printer for crewed missions to Mars.
Most construction planned on asteroids or planets will be bootstrapped somehow using the materials available on those objects. 3D printing is often one of the steps in this bootstrapping. The Sinterhab project is researching a lunar base constructed by 3D printing using lunar regolith as a base material. Instead of adding a binding agent to the regolith, researchers are experimenting with microwave sintering to create solid blocks from the raw material.
Projects like these have been investigated for construction of off-Earth habitats.
Sociocultural applications.
In 2005, a rapidly expanding hobbyist and home-use market was established with the inauguration of the open-source RepRap and Fab@Home projects. Virtually all home-use 3D printers released to-date have their technical roots in the ongoing RepRap Project and associated open-source software initiatives. In distributed manufacturing, one study has found that 3D printing could become a mass market product enabling consumers to save money associated with purchasing common household objects. For example, instead of going to a store to buy an object made in a factory by injection molding (such as a measuring cup or a funnel), a person might instead print it at home from a downloaded 3D model.
Art and jewellery.
In 2005, academic journals began to report on the possible artistic applications of 3D printing technology, being used by artists such as Martin John Callanan at The Bartlett school of architecture. By 2007 the mass media followed with an article in the "Wall Street Journal" and "Time" magazine, listing a printed design among their 100 most influential designs of the year. During the 2011 London Design Festival, an installation, curated by Murray Moss and focused on 3D Printing, was held in the Victoria and Albert Museum (the V&A). The installation was called "Industrial Revolution 2.0: How the Material World will Newly Materialize".
At the 3DPrintshow in London, which took place in November 2013 and 2014, the art sections had works made with 3D printed plastic and metal. Several artists such as Joshua Harker, Davide Prete, Sophie Kahn, Helena Lukasova, Foteini Setaki showed how 3D printing can modify aesthetic and art processes. In 2015, engineers and designers at MIT's Mediated Matter Group and Glass Lab created an additive 3D printer that prints with glass, called "G3DP". The results can be structural as well as artistic. Transparent glass vessels printed on it are part of some museum collections.
The use of 3D scanning technologies allows the replication of real objects without the use of moulding techniques that in many cases can be more expensive, more difficult, or too invasive to be performed, particularly for precious artwork or delicate cultural heritage artifacts where direct contact with the moulding substances could harm the original object's surface.
3D selfies.
A 3D photo booth such as the Fantasitron located at Madurodam, the miniature park, generates 3D selfie models from 2D pictures of customers. These selfies are often printed by dedicated 3D printing companies such as Shapeways. These models are also known as 3D portraits, 3D figurines or mini-me figurines.
Communication.
Employing additive layer technology offered by 3D printing, Terahertz devices which act as waveguides, couplers and bends have been created. The complex shape of these devices could not be achieved using conventional fabrication techniques. Commercially available professional grade printer EDEN 260V was used to create structures with minimum feature size of 100 µm. The printed structures were later DC sputter coated with gold (or any other metal) to create a Terahertz Plasmonic Device.
In 2016 artist/scientist Janine Carr Created the first 3d printed vocal percussion (beatbox) as a waveform, with the ability to play the soundwave by laser, along with four vocalised emotions these were also playable by laser.
Domestic use.
Some early consumer examples of 3d printing include the 64DD released in 1999 in Japan. As of 2012, domestic 3D printing was mainly practiced by hobbyists and enthusiasts. However, little was used for practical household applications, for example, ornamental objects. Some practical examples include a working clock and gears printed for home woodworking machines among other purposes. Web sites associated with home 3D printing tended to include backscratchers, coat hooks, door knobs, etc.
The open source Fab@Home project has developed printers for general use. They have been used in research environments to produce chemical compounds with 3D printing technology, including new ones, initially without immediate application as proof of principle. The printer can print with anything that can be dispensed from a syringe as liquid or paste. The developers of the chemical application envisage both industrial and domestic use for this technology, including enabling users in remote locations to be able to produce their own medicine or household chemicals.
3D printing is now working its way into households, and more and more children are being introduced to the concept of 3D printing at earlier ages. The prospects of 3D printing are growing, and as more people have access to this new innovation, new uses in households will emerge.
The OpenReflex SLR film camera was developed for 3D printing as an open-source student project.
Education and research.
3D printing, and open source 3D printers in particular, are the latest technology making inroads into the classroom. 3D printing allows students to create prototypes of items without the use of expensive tooling required in subtractive methods. Students design and produce actual models they can hold. The classroom environment allows students to learn and employ new applications for 3D printing. RepRaps, for example, have already been used for an educational mobile robotics platform.
Some authors have claimed that 3D printers offer an unprecedented "revolution" in STEM education. The evidence for such claims comes from both the low cost ability for rapid prototyping in the classroom by students, but also the fabrication of low-cost high-quality scientific equipment from open hardware designs forming open-source labs. Engineering and design principles are explored as well as architectural planning. Students recreate duplicates of museum items such as fossils and historical artifacts for study in the classroom without possibly damaging sensitive collections. Other students interested in graphic designing can construct models with complex working parts easily. 3D printing gives students a new perspective with topographic maps. Science students can study cross-sections of internal organs of the human body and other biological specimens. And chemistry students can explore 3D models of molecules and the relationship within chemical compounds. The true representation of exactly scaled bond length and bond angles in 3D printed molecular models can be used in organic chemistry lecture courses to explain molecular geometry and reactivity.
According to a recent paper by Kostakis et al., 3D printing and design can electrify various literacies and creative capacities of children in accordance with the spirit of the interconnected, information-based world.
Future applications for 3D printing might include creating open-source scientific equipment.
Nowadays, the demand of 3D printing keep on increasing in order to fulfill the demands in producing parts with complex geometry at a lower development cost. The increasing demands 3D printing parts in industry would eventually lead to the 3D printed parts repairing activity and secondary process such as joining, foaming and cutting. This secondary process need to be developed in order to support the growth of the 3D printing application in the future. From the research, FSW is proven able to be used as one of the methods to join the metal 3D printing materials. By using proper FSW tools and correct parameter setting a sound and defect-free weld can be produced in order to join the metal 3D printing materials.
Environmental use.
In Bahrain, large-scale 3D printing using a sandstone-like material has been used to create unique coral-shaped structures, which encourage coral polyps to colonize and regenerate damaged reefs. These structures have a much more natural shape than other structures used to create artificial reefs, and, unlike concrete, are neither acid nor alkaline with neutral pH.
Cultural heritage.
In the last several years 3D printing has been intensively used by in the cultural heritage field for preservation, restoration and dissemination purposes. Many Europeans and North American Museums have purchased 3D printers and actively recreate missing pieces of their relics.
Scan the World is the largest archive of 3D printable objects of cultural significance from across the globe. Each object, originating from 3D scan data provided by their community, is optimised for 3D printing and free to download on MyMiniFactory. Through working alongside museums, such as The Victoria and Albert Museum and private collectors, the initiative serves as a platform for democratizing the art object.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum have started using their 3D printers to create museum souvenirs that are available in the museum shops. Other museums, like the National Museum of Military History and Varna Historical Museum, have gone further and sell through the online platform Threeding digital models of their artifacts, created using Artec 3D scanners, in 3D printing friendly file format, which everyone can 3D print at home.
Specialty materials.
Consumer grade 3D printing has resulted in new materials that have been developed specifically for 3D printers. For example, filament materials have been developed to imitate wood in its appearance as well as its texture. Furthermore, new technologies, such as infusing carbon fiber into printable plastics, allowing for a stronger, lighter material. In addition to new structural materials that have been developed due to 3D printing, new technologies have allowed for patterns to be applied directly to 3D printed parts. Iron oxide-free Portland cement powder has been used to create architectural structures up to 9 feet in height.


3D printing processes

A variety of processes, equipment, and materials are used in the production of a three-dimensional object via additive manufacturing. 3D printing is also known as additive manufacturing, because the numerous available 3D printing process tend to be additive in nature, with a few key differences in the technologies and the materials used in this process.
Some of the different types of physical transformations which are used in 3D printing include melt extrusion, light polymerization, continuous liquid interface production and sintering.
Types of 3D printing processes.
There are many different 3D printing processes, that can be grouped into seven categories:
Each process and piece of equipment has pros and cons associated with it. These usually involve aspects such as speed, costs, versatility with respect to feedstock material, geometrical limitations and tolerances, as well as a mechanical and appearance properties of the products such as strength, texture and color.
The variety of processes and equipment allows for numerous uses by amateurs and professionals alike. Some lend themselves better toward industry use (in this case the term Additive Manufacturing is preferred) whereas others make 3D printing accessible to the average consumer. Some printers are large enough to fabricate buildings whilst others tend to micro and nanoscale sized objects and in general many different technologies can be exploited to physically produce the designed objects.
Processes.
Several 3D printing processes have been invented since the late 1970s. The printers were originally large, expensive, and highly limited in what they could produce.
A large number of additive processes are now available. The main differences between processes are in the way layers are deposited to create parts and in the materials that are used. Some methods melt or soften the material to produce the layers, for example. selective laser melting (SLM) or direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), selective laser sintering (SLS), fused deposition modeling (FDM), or fused filament fabrication (FFF), while others cure liquid materials using different sophisticated technologies, such as stereolithography (SLA). With laminated object manufacturing (LOM), thin layers are cut to shape and joined (e.g., paper, polymer, metal). Particle deposition using inkjet technology prints layers of material in the form of individual drops. Each drop of solid ink from hot-melt material actually prints one particle or one object. Color hot-melt inks print individual drops of CMYK on top of each other to produce a single color object with 1-3 layers melted together. Complex 3D models are printed with many overlapping drops fused together into layers as defined by the sliced CAD file. Inkjet technology allows 3D models to be solid or open cell structures as defined by the 3D printer inkjet print configuration. Each method has its own advantages and drawbacks, which is why some companies offer a choice of powder and polymer for the material used to build the object. Others sometimes use standard, off-the-shelf business paper as the build material to produce a durable prototype. The main considerations in choosing a machine are generally speed, costs of the 3D printer, of the printed prototype, choice and cost of the materials, and color capabilities.
Printers that work directly with metals are generally expensive. However less expensive printers can be used to make a mold, which is then used to make metal parts.
Material jetting.
A nozzle with liquid material can be drawn over an absorbent surface to wick out material, electrostatically pulled from a larger jet orifice, pressurized to stream material or fluid pressure surged to expel short burst of fluid in the form of spray or individual drops. A fountain pen with nib tip is an example of wicking material. A hose is an example of streaming fluid. A pump short burst is an example of drop or spray ejection.
Nozzles can be made of any material and can be single nozzle with one fluid chamber or multi-nozzle with single or multi-fluid chambers. Today's inkjet printer products can be any variation of these inkjet styles.
Ink material for inkjets only needs to be a low enough viscosity to allow the fluid to pass through the nozzle opening. Materials can be melted to be liquid. These are called Hot-melt inks. In all cases the inkjet inks must be three-dimensional on the printed surface to produce a Z height component for a 3D object.
Inkjet was pioneered by Teletype which introduced the electrostatic pull Inktronic teleprinter in 1966. The printer had 40 jets that offered a break-through speed of 120 characters per second.
Continuous inkjets were popular in the 1950-1960's before Drop-On-Demand inkjets were invented in 1972. Continuous three-dimensional inks were wax based and low temperature metal alloy's. Printing with these hot-melt inks produced alpha-numeric characters that were solid and raised, but no one recognized them as 3D printing. In 1971, a young engineer, Johannes Gottwald patented a liquid metal recorder that printed large characters in metal for signage, but Teletype Corp ignored the discovery. Braille was printed with wax inks but never commercialized in the 1960s.
Drop-on-demand (DOD) inkjets were invented in 1972 using piezoelectric "squeeze" technology to pump out one drop per squeeze. Only water-based inks were used in these early DOD jets. Experimentation was done with many orifice shapes, diameters and multiple nozzle holes per inkjet tube. Single nozzle inkjets were called "Alpha Jets" at Exxon Office Systems where printing was researched by many early inventors who were hired to improve printing. The Alpha jet was rejected for being too complex. Multi-jet printheads were designed and incorporated by this group.
A small company in New Hampshire, R.H. Research, owned by Robert Howard researched printing from 1982 -1983 and decided the single-nozzle inkjet was a possible fit and he then contacted an inventor at Exxon who named Al Hock as a good choice for this project. Al Hock invited Tom Peer and Dave Lutz to join him in New Hampshire to look into this new venture and they accepted the job offer. Dave Lutz contacted two jet people still at Exxon, Jim and Kathy McMahon and they also accepted offers to be founders in this venture later to be named Howtek, Inc. Within a few months the Alpha jets made by the new Howtek team were working fine. Howtek management chose to change the glass nozzles to Tefzel based on the inkjet test results. Tefzel allowed the inkjet to work at high temperature with the new Thermoplastic Hot-melt inks and run with no vibrations in the nozzle structure to generate stray drops. Each squeeze produced one drop over a frequency range o 1–16,000 drops per second. The nozzles were manufacturable and the Pixelmaster was born. There were 32 inkjet single nozzles per printhead, printing 4 colors (8 jets per color) CMYK. The mechanism was a printhead rotating at 121 rpm and placing uniform size and shaped drops precisely in place as subtractive color text and image printing for the graphics industry. This technology of hot-melt inks printing layers of CMYK was a precursor to a 3D patent by Richard Helinski. A few years later(1993) the patent was licensed first by Sanders Prototype, Inc.,(Renamed Solidscape, Inc) a manufacturer of the first desktop Rapid Prototype printer in the industry, the Modelmaker 6 Pro. This printer and newer products use these Howtek style inkjets and thermoplastic inks. Models printed with the Thermoplastic were perfect for investment casting with no ash during burnout. Thermoplastic ink drop printing is accurate and precise giving high quality surface finish models popular with jewelers and detail sensitive CAD designers. The Howtek inkjets designed to print a page in 4 minutes were now printing in some case for 4 days straight. The first printer was sold in 1993 to Hitchner Corporations, Metal Casting Technology R&D group where they printer golf club heads and parts for automobile engines.
Material extrusion.
Fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known under the trademarked term fused deposition modeling (FDM), derives from automatic polymeric foil hot air welding system, hot-melt gluing and automatic gasket deposition. Such principle has been further developed by S. Scott Crump in the late 1980s and was commercialized in 1990 by Stratasys. After the patent on this technology expired, a large open-source development community developed and both commercial and DIY variants utilizing this type of 3D printer appeared known as the RepRap project (for self-replicating rapid prototyper). As a result, the price of this technology has dropped by two orders of magnitude since its creation, and it has become the most common form of 3D printing.
In fused deposition modeling, the model or part is produced by extruding small beads or streams of material which harden immediately to form layers. A filament of thermoplastic or other low melting point material or mixture is fed into an extrusion nozzle head (3D printer extruder), where the filament is heated to its melting temperature and extruded onto a build table. More recently, fused pellet deposition (or fused particle deposition) has been developed, where particles or pellets of plastic replace the need to use filament. The nozzle head heats the material and turns the flow on and off. Typically stepper motors or servo motors are employed to move the extrusion head and adjust the flow. The printer usually has 3 axes of motion. A computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software package is used to generate the G-Code that is sent to a microcontroller which controls the motors.
Plastic is the most common material for such printing. Various polymers may be used, including acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polycarbonate (PC), polylactic acid (PLA), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), PC/ABS, polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) and high impact polystyrene (HIPS). In general, the polymer is in the form of a filament fabricated from virgin resins. There are multiple projects in the open-sourced community aimed at processing post-consumer plastic waste into filament. These involve machines used to shred and extrude the plastic material into filament such as recyclebots. Additionally, fluoropolymers such as PTFE tubing are used in the process due to the material's ability to withstand high temperatures. This ability is especially useful in transferring filaments.
Metal and glass may both be used for 3-D printing as well, though they are much more expensive and generally used for works of art. However, the development of WAAM (wire arc additive manufacturing) has reduced the costs of metal 3-D printing.
FDM is somewhat restricted in the variation of shapes that may be fabricated. For example, FDM usually cannot produce stalactite-like structures, since they would be unsupported during the build. Otherwise, a thin support must be designed into the structure, which can be broken away during finishing. Usually, the software that converts the 3D model into a set of flat layers, called slicer, takes care of the addition of these supports and some other resources to allow the fabrication of this kind of shapes.
Powder bed fusion.
Another 3D printing approach is the selective fusing of materials in a granular bed. The technique fuses parts of the layer and then moves upward in the working area, adding another layer of granules and repeating the process until the piece has built up. This process uses the unfused media to support overhangs and thin walls in the part being produced, which reduces the need for temporary auxiliary supports for the piece. For example, in selective heat sintering, a thermal printhead applies heat to layers of powdered thermoplastic; when a layer is finished, the powder bed moves down, and an automated roller adds a new layer of material which is sintered to form the next cross-section of the model; using a less intense thermal printhead instead of a laser, makes this a cheaper solution than using lasers, and can be scaled down to desktop sizes.
Laser sintering techniques include selective laser sintering (SLS), with both metals and polymers (e.g., PA, PA-GF, Rigid GF, PEEK, PS, Alumide, Carbonmide, elastomers), and direct metal laser sintering (DMLS).
Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) was developed and patented by Dr. Carl Deckard and Dr. Joseph Beaman at the University of Texas at Austin in the mid-1980s, under sponsorship of DARPA. A similar process was patented without being commercialized by R. F. Housholder in 1979.
Selective laser melting (SLM) does not use sintering for the fusion of powder granules but will completely melt the powder using a high-energy laser to create fully dense materials in a layer-wise method that has mechanical properties similar to those of conventional manufactured metals.
Electron beam melting (EBM) is a similar type of additive manufacturing technology for metal parts (e.g. titanium alloys). EBM manufactures parts by melting metal powder layer by layer with an electron beam in a high vacuum. Unlike metal sintering techniques that operate below melting point, EBM parts are void-free.
Binder jetting.
The binder jetting 3D printing technique is the deposition of a binding adhesive agent onto layers of material, usually powdered. The materials can be ceramic-based or metal. This method is also known as inkjet 3D printing system. To produce the piece, the printer builds the model using a head that moves over the platform base and deposits, one layer at a time, by spreading a layer of powder (plaster, or resins) and printing a binder in the cross-section of the part using an inkjet-like process. This is repeated until every layer has been printed. This technology allows the printing of full color prototypes, overhangs, and elastomer parts. The strength of bonded powder prints can be enhanced with wax or thermoset polymer impregnation.
Stereolithography.
 The Stereolithography (SLA) process is based on light curing (photopolymerization) of liquid materials into a solid shape; it was patented in 1986 by Chuck Hull.
In this process a vat of liquid polymer is exposed to controlled lighting (like a laser or a digital light projector) under safelight conditions. Most commonly the exposed liquid polymer hardens through cross-linking driven by the addition reaction of carbon carbon double bonds in acrylates. Polymerization occurs when photopolymers are exposed to light when photopolymers contain chromophores, otherwise, the addition of molecules that are photosensitive are utilized to react with the solution to begin polymerization. Polymerization of monomers lead to cross-linking, which creates a polymer. Through these covalent bonds, the property of the solution is changed. The build plate then moves down in small increments and the liquid polymer is again exposed to light. The process repeats until the model has been built. The liquid polymer is then drained from the vat, leaving the solid model. The EnvisionTEC "Perfactory" is an example of a DLP rapid prototyping system.
Inkjet printer systems like the "Objet PolyJet" system spray photopolymer materials onto a build tray in ultra-thin layers (between 16 and 30 μm) until the part is completed. Each photopolymer layer is cured with UV light after it is jetted, producing fully cured models that can be handled and used immediately, without post-curing. The gel-like support material, which is designed to support complicated geometries, is removed by hand and water jetting. It is also suitable for elastomers. There is another type of inkjet printing system available in the market that can print a photopolymer in a layer-by-layer manner, with intermediate UV curing, to produce ophthalmic corrective lenses. No support structures are required in this case, as ophthalmic lenses do not need overhangs. Luxexcel, a Dutch company, has commercialized this technology and printing platform.
Ultra-small features can be made with the 3D micro-fabrication technique used in multiphoton photopolymerisation. This approach uses a focused laser to trace the desired 3D object into a block of gel. Due to the nonlinear nature of photo excitation, the gel is cured to a solid only in the places where the laser was focused while the remaining gel is then washed away. Feature sizes of under 100 nm are easily produced, as well as complex structures with moving and interlocked parts.
Yet another approach uses a synthetic resin that is solidified using LEDs.
In Mask-image-projection-based stereolithography, a 3D digital model is sliced by a set of horizontal planes. Each slice is converted into a two-dimensional mask image. The mask image is then projected onto a photocurable liquid resin surface and light is projected onto the resin to cure it in the shape of the layer. The technique has been used to create objects composed of multiple materials that cure at different rates. In research systems, the light is projected from below, allowing the resin to be quickly spread into uniform thin layers, reducing production time from hours to minutes. Commercially available devices such as Objet Connex apply the resin via small nozzles.
Continuous liquid interface production (CLIP) is another form of additive manufacturing that uses the DLP based photo polymerization process to create smooth-sided solid objects of a wide variety of shapes. The continuous process of CLIP begins with a pool of liquid photopolymer resin. Part of the pool bottom is transparent to ultraviolet light (the "window"). Like DLP systems before it, ultraviolet light beam shines through the window, illuminating the precise cross-section of the object. The light causes the resin to solidify. The object rises slowly enough to allow resin to flow under and maintain contact with the bottom of the object. CLIP is different from traditional DLP processes, due to an oxygen-permeable membrane which lies below the resin, creating a "dead zone" (persistent liquid interface) preventing the resin from attaching to the window (photopolymerization is inhibited between the window and the polymerizer).
Unlike stereolithography, the printing process is considered continuous by its founders and considerably faster than traditional DLP processes, enabling the production of parts in minutes instead of hours.
Recently, the use of stereolithographic 3D printing techniques has been developed further to allow for the additive manufacturing of ceramic materials. Successful 3D printing of ceramics using stereolithography is achieved through the photopolymerisation of preceramic polymers to yield silicon based ceramics of a class known more widely as polymer derived ceramics, including silicon carbide and silicon oxycarbide.
Computed axial lithography.
Computed axial lithography is a method for 3D printing based on reversing the principle of computed tomography (CT) to create prints in photo-curable resin. It was developed by a collaboration between the University of California, Berkeley with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Unlike other methods of 3D printing it does not build models through depositing layers of material like fused deposition modelling and stereolithography, instead it creates objects using a series of 2D images projected onto a cylinder of resin. It is notable for its ability to build objects much more quickly than other methods using resins and the ability to embed objects within the prints.
Liquid additive manufacturing.
Liquid additive manufacturing (LAM) is an additive manufacturing technique which deposits a liquid or highly viscous material (e.g. Liquid Silicone Rubber) onto a build surface to create an object, which is then vulcanised using heat to harden it. The process was originally created by Adrian Bowyer and was then built upon by German RepRap.
Lamination.
In some printers, paper can be used as the build material, resulting in a lower cost to print. During the 1990s some companies marketed printers that cut cross-sections out of special adhesive coated paper using a carbon dioxide laser and then laminated them together.
In 2005 Mcor Technologies Ltd developed a different process using ordinary sheets of office paper, a tungsten carbide blade to cut the shape, and selective deposition of adhesive and pressure to bond the prototype.
There are also a number of companies selling printers that print laminated objects using thin plastic and metal sheets.
Ultrasonic Consolidation (UC) or Ultrasonic Additive Manufacturing (UAM) is a low temperature additive manufacturing or 3D printing technique for metals.
Directed Energy Deposition (DED).
Powder-fed directed-energy deposition.
In powder-fed directed-energy deposition, a high-power laser is used to melt metal powder supplied to the focus of the laser beam. The laser beam typically travels through the center of the deposition head and is focused to a small spot by one or more lenses. The build occurs on an X-Y table which is driven by a tool path created from a digital model to fabricate an object layer by layer. The deposition head is moved up vertically as each layer is completed. Some systems even make use of 5-axis or 6-axis systems ("i.e." articulated arms) capable of delivering material on the substrate (a printing bed, or a pre-existing part) with few to no spatial access restrictions. Metal powder is delivered and distributed around the circumference of the head or can be split by an internal manifold and delivered through nozzles arranged in various configurations around the deposition head. A hermetically sealed chamber filled with inert gas or a local inert shroud gas (sometimes both combined) are often used to shield the melt pool from atmospheric oxygen, to limit oxidation and better control the material properties. The powder fed directed energy process is similar to Selective Laser Sintering, but the metal powder is projected only where material is being added to the part at that moment. The laser beam is used to heat up and create a "melt pool" on the substrate, in which the new powder is injected quasi-simultaneously. The process supports a wide range of materials including titanium, stainless steel, aluminum, tungsten, and other specialty materials as well as composites and functionally graded material. The process can not only fully build new metal parts but can also add material to existing parts for example for coatings, repair, and hybrid manufacturing applications. LENS (Laser Engineered Net Shaping), which was developed by Sandia National Labs, is one example of the Powder Fed - Directed Energy Deposition process for 3D printing or restoring metal parts.
Metal wire processes.
Laser-based wire-feed systems, such as Laser Metal Deposition-wire (LMD-w), feed wire through a nozzle that is melted by a laser using inert gas shielding in either an open environment (gas surrounding the laser), or in a sealed chamber. Electron beam freeform fabrication uses an electron beam heat source inside a vacuum chamber.
It is also possible to use conventional gas metal arc welding attached to a 3D stage to 3-D print metals such as steel, bronze and aluminum. Low-cost open source RepRap-style 3-D printers have been outfitted with Arduino-based sensors and demonstrated reasonable metallurgical properties from conventional welding wire as feedstock.
Selective Powder Deposition (SPD).
In selective powder deposition, build and support powders are selectively deposited into a crucible, such that the build powder takes the shape of the desired object and support powder fills the rest of the volume in the crucible. Then an infill material is applied, such that it comes in contact with the build powder. Then the crucible is fired up in a kiln at the temperature above the melting point of the infill, but below the melting points of the powders. When the infill melts, it soaks the build powder. But it doesn't soak the support powder, because the support powder is chosen to be such that it is not wettable by the infill. If at the firing temperature, the atoms of the infill material and the build powder are mutually defusable, such as in case of copper powder and zinc infill, then the resulting material will be a uniform mixture of those atoms, in this case, bronze. But if the atoms are not mutually defusable, such as in case of tungsten and copper at 1100°C, then the resulting material will be a composite. To prevent shape distortion, the firing temperature must be below the solidus temperature of the resulting alloy.
Printers.
Industry use.
As of October 2012, additive manufacturing systems were on the market that ranged from $2,000 to $500,000 in price and were employed in industries including aerospace, architecture, automotive, defense, and medical replacements, among many others. As of 2018, 3-D printers have dropped in cost to as little $100 and low-cost higher quality desktop printers are approximately $2500. These types of devices are used widely in industry for prototyping, jig making, fixturing, fixing small custom components, and even additive manufacturing of actual products.
In addition, higher end 3-D printers have now become relatively common for production and additive manufacturing. For example, General Electric uses the high-end model to build parts for turbines. Many of these systems are used for rapid prototyping, before mass production methods are employed. Volkswagen uses 3D printers on their assembly lines to print tooling, jigs and fixtures. They estimate that 3D printers save 250,000 EURO per year in costs. One report estimates that almost 75% of desktop 3D printers made are used in industry and not by consumers.
Military and defense are also incorporating the use of 3D printers. The Royal Netherlands Air Force is using desktop 3D printers at their Woensdrecht Air Force Base to make fixtures and alignment tools. In the United States, the Hill Air Force base is using 3D printed parts in repair of fighter jets.
Higher education has proven to be a major buyer of desktop and professional 3D printers. Significant desktop 3D printer purchases by both K-12 and universities helped sustain a desktop 3D printer market that had problems in 2015–2016. As higher education is the home to research, 3D printing is being used to fabricate equipment to further research and hold down costs. For example, chemists can 3D print flow reactor systems that would otherwise be too costly to purchase. The UCL School of Pharmacy in the UK created a modular flow reactor system for chemical synthesis that can easily be 3D printed in laboratories around the world at low cost. Libraries around the world have also become locations to house smaller 3D printers for educational and community access.
Consumer use.
Several projects and companies are making efforts to develop affordable 3D printers for home desktop use. Much of this work has been driven by and targeted at DIY/Maker/enthusiast/early adopter communities, with additional ties to the academic and hacker communities.
RepRap Project is one of the longest running projects in the desktop category. The RepRap project aims to produce a free and open source hardware (FOSH) 3D printer, whose full specifications are released under the GNU General Public License, which is capable of replicating itself by printing many of its own (plastic) parts to create more machines. RepRaps have already been shown to be able to print circuit boards and metal parts. The most popular 3D printer in the world is the Prusa i3, a RepRap printer.
Because of the FOSH aims of RepRap, many related projects have used their design for inspiration, creating an ecosystem of related or derivative 3D printers, most of which are also open-source designs. The availability of these open-source designs means that variants of 3D printers are easy to invent. The quality and complexity of printer designs, however, as well as the quality of kit or finished products, varies greatly from project to project. This rapid development of open source 3D printers is gaining interest in many spheres as it enables hyper-customization and the use of public domain designs to fabricate open source appropriate technology. This technology can also assist initiatives in sustainable development since technologies are easily and economically made from resources available to local communities.
The cost of 3D printers has decreased dramatically since about 2010, with machines that used to cost $20,000 now costing less than $1,000. For instance, as of 2013, several companies and individuals are selling parts to build various RepRap designs, with prices starting at about / . The open source Fab@Home project has developed printers for general use with anything that can be squirted through a nozzle, from chocolate to silicone sealant and chemical reactants. Printers following the project's designs have been available from suppliers in kits or in pre-assembled form since 2012 at prices in the US$2000 range. Several new 3D printers are aimed at the small, inexpensive market including the mUVe3D and Lumifold. Rapide 3D has designed a professional grade crowdsourced 3D-printer costing $1499 which has no fumes nor constant rattle during use. The 3Doodler, "3D printing pen", raised $2.3 million on Kickstarter with the pens selling at $99, though the 3D Doodler has been criticized for being more of a crafting pen than a 3D printer.
As the costs of 3D printers have come down, they are becoming more appealing financially to use for self-manufacturing of personal products. In addition, 3D printing products at home may reduce the environmental impacts of manufacturing by reducing material use and distribution impacts.
In addition, several RecycleBots such as the commercialized Filastruder have been designed and fabricated to convert waste plastic, such as shampoo containers and milk jugs, into inexpensive RepRap filament. There is some evidence that using this approach of distributed recycling is better for the environment.
The development and hyper-customization of the RepRap-based 3D printers has produced a new category of printers suitable for small business and consumer use. Manufacturers such as Solidoodle, Robo 3D, RepRapPro and Pirx 3D have introduced models and kits priced at less than $1,000, thousands less than they were in September 2012. Depending on the application, the print resolution and speed of manufacturing lies somewhere between a personal printer and an industrial printer. A list of printers with pricing and other information is maintained. Most recently, delta robots, like the TripodMaker, have been utilized for 3D printing to increase fabrication speed further. For delta 3D printers, due to its geometry and differentiation movements, the accuracy of the print depends on the position of the printer head.
Some companies are also offering software for 3D printing, as a support for hardware manufactured by other companies.
Large 3D printers.
Large 3D printers have been developed for industrial, education, and demonstrative uses. A large delta-style 3D printer was built in 2014 by SeeMeCNC. The printer is capable of making an object with diameter of up to and up to in height. It also uses plastic pellets as the raw material instead of the typical plastic filaments used in other 3D printers.
Another type of large printer is Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM). The goal is to develop printers that can produce a large object in high speed. A BAAM machine of Cincinnati Incorporated can produce an object at the speeds 200-500 times faster than typical 3D printers available in 2014. Another BAAM machine is being developed by Lockheed Martin with an aim to print long objects of up to to be used in aerospace industries.
See also Construction 3D printing
Microscale and nanoscale 3D printing.
Microelectronic device fabrication methods can be employed to perform the 3D printing of nanoscale-size objects. Such printed objects are typically grown on a solid substrate, e.g. silicon wafer, to which they adhere after printing as they are too small and fragile to be manipulated post-construction.
In one technique, 3D nanostructures can be printed by physically moving a dynamic stencil mask during the material deposition process, somewhat analogous to the extrusion method of traditional 3D printers. Programmable-height nanostructures with resolutions as small as 10 nm have been produced in this fashion, by metallic physical vapor deposition Mechanicalpiezo-actuator controlled stencil mask having a milled nanopore in a silicon nitride membrane.
Another method enhances the photopolymerization process on a much smaller scale, using finely-focused lasers controlled by adjustable mirrors. This method has produced objects with feature resolutions of 100 nm. Micron wide, millimetre long copper wires have also been printed using lasers.


India Kawasaki Motors

India Kawasaki Motors Private Limited (IKM) is an Indian motorcycle retailer. It was established in May 2010 in Pune, Maharashtra, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Motorcycle & Engine, Japan Ltd. for imports and sales of motorcycles. Kawasaki made a technical assistance agreement with Bajaj Auto Ltd. in 1984, and cooperated to expand production and sales of motorcycles in India. In November 2016 India Kawasaki Motors decided to break ties with Bajaj Auto Ltd. for sales and service from April 2017 and sell its motorcycles through its own network.
India Kawasaki Motors currently sells the Ninja 300, Ninja 400, Ninja 650, Ninja 1000, Z650, Z650 RS, Z900, ZH2, ZH2 SE, Versys 650, Versys 1000, Vulcan S, Ninja ZX-10R, Ninja H2, Ninja H2R and Ninja H2Carbon are sold through Kawasaki exclusive dealerships. In the past, Kawasaki manufactured commuter bikes such as KB100, 4S Champion, KB125, Boxer, Aspire, Caliber, Wind and Eliminator jointly with Indian partner Bajaj Auto Ltd. IKM’s annual capacity currently stands at 2,500-3,000 units.
Vehicles.
Cruiser Bike.
vulcan s


Tommy Gate

Tommy Gate is an American brand of hydraulic liftgate, or tail lift, manufactured by Woodbine Manufacturing Company. The company was formed in 1965 by Delbert "Bus" Brown and its production facility is located in Woodbine, Iowa.
History.
Prior to founding Woodbine Manufacturing Company, Delbert Brown manufactured farming equipment as Brown Manufacturing Company. After inventing what was then one of the first trenching machines, Brown Manufacturing Company was sold to Omaha Steel Works. Three years later, Brown founded Woodbine Manufacturing Company and began the Tommy Gate brand.
Expansion.
The Woodbine manufacturing facility was initially built in 1965 to occupy 70,000 square feet of production space. It expanded in 1980 to 90,000 and once again in 2000 when it grew to 140,000. The most recent expansion, completed in 2011, grew the plant to an overall 200,000 square feet (including 40,000 square feet of warehouse space).


Bending machine (manufacturing)

A bending machine is a forming machine tool (DIN 8586). Its purpose is to assemble a bend on a workpiece. A bend is manufactured by using a bending tool during a linear or rotating move.
The detailed classification can be done with the help of the kinematics.
CNC bending.
CNC bending machines are developed for high flexibility and low setup times. Those machines are able to bend single pieces as well as small batches with the same precision and efficiency as series-produced parts in an economical way.
Universal bending machines – modular construction.
Universal bending machines consists of a basic machine that can be adjusted with little effort and used for a variety of bends. A simple plug-in system supports quick and easy exchange of tools.
The basic machine consists of a CNC-operated side stop, a work bench, and software for programming and operating. Its modular construction offers an affordable entry into the bending technology, because after an initial investment the machine can be customized and extended later without any conversion. That means the basic machine delivers a bending stroke, and the tool determines the kind of bending.
Bending tools.
In the case of bending tools they are classified by the kind of generated bends. They can be constructed to adjust the bending angle by reference, stroke measurement or angle measurement.
CNC machines usually abstain from a reference part. They grant a high bending accuracy starting with the first work piece.
Standard bends.
All bends without an extraordinary geometry belong to standard bends. The distance between a bend and the material end is quite high providing an adequate bearing area. The same with one bend to the next.
Typical tools are a so-called bending former combined with a prisms with electronic angular measurement or an ordinary prism.
U-bending.
For U-bends where tight and narrow bends are necessary, the bending former is replaced by a bending mandrel. A bending mandrel has a narrow geometry.
Offset bending.
Offset bending tools are used to assemble two bends with a small distance between in one step.
Edgewise bending.
Edge bending tools are used if the bending axis is placed parallel to the tight side of the work piece. Tools for bending on edge may include electronic angular measurement allowing a high bending accuracy.
Torsion bending.
Torsion tools are able to rotate the workpiece on the longitudinal axis. Alternatives are complex assembly groups with standard bends.
Angular measurement and spring back compensation.
For producing single pieces as well as small batches with the same precision and efficiency as series-produced parts, a spring back compensation is helpful. A bending accuracy of +/- 0.2° starting
from the first work piece is achieved due to calculated spring back compensation and the use
of electronic tools.
Operating mode angular measurement.
Bending prisms with electronic angular measurement technology are equipped with two flattened bending bolds. That bold rotate while bending giving a signal to the angle measurement. The measuring accuracy is about 0.1º. The computer then calculates the required final stroke and spring back of every bend is compensated regardless of material type. A high angle accuracy of +/- 0.2º is achieved instantly with the first workpiece without adjustments. Compared to adjustment by reference, material waste amounts are decreased, because even inconsistencies within a single piece of material are automatically adjusted .
Operating mode stroke measurement.
Wherever bending prisms with electronic angular measurement are not suitable, a small distance between the bends might be a reason, bending prisms without electronic angle measurement are applied.
In that case the control unit can be switched from angular measurement to stroke measurement. This method allows the pre-selection of the stroke of the bending ram in mm and therefore the immersion depth of the punch into the prism. Setting accuracy is +/- 0.1 mm. A final stroke is usually not required. Further development of the stroke system enables the user to specify an angle from which the stroke is calculated by using stored stroke functions. Bending accuracy in that case is dependent on material properties such as thickness, hardness, etc. which may differ from one work piece to another.
Programming and principle of operation.
Programming is done on a PC equipped with dedicated software, which is part of the machine or connected to an external workstation. For generating a new program engineering data can be imported or pasted per mouse and keyboard. Through a graphic and menu-driven user interface previous CNC programming skills are not required. The software asks for all necessary values and checks all figures. Inputs can be corrected at any time and minimum distances are checked instantly to guard against improper inputs. The software automatically calculates the flat length of each part being bent and determines the exact position of the side stop. The part is shown on a screen.
Ideally each program is stored in one database, so it is easy to recover them by search and sort functions.
Networking with the whole production line.
A lot of organizational effort and interface management is saved, if the CNC bending machine is connected to the previous and subsequent process. For a connection to other machines and external workstations corporate interfaces have to be established.
Networking with a punching machine.
If a part is bended, in most cases a prior process was inserting holes to mount it in an assembly group.
Therefore, a punching machine is an option. Some programs enable the operator to program both step by one software tool.


Tapered integration

Tapered integration is a term from organization theory that refers to a mix of vertical integration and market exchange. Upstream, a producer might manufacture some of the input itself and buy the remaining portion from independent firms. Downstream, the manufacturer might sell a portion of its output through an in-house sales force and use independent sales forces to sell the remainder.
It is not documented when the term "tapered integration" was first used, though it can be found in law journals such as the Yale Law Journal as early as the 1950s, the first known use in academia being a case study by William King Norris.
Examples.
Examples for tapered integration are (1) Tim Hortons owning some of its retail outlets but also using franchising, (2) Coca-Cola and Pepsi both having integrated bottling subsidiaries while also relying on independent bottlers for production and distribution in some markets, or (3) BMW which uses both in-house market research from its Corporate Center Development and external market research from independent, specialized firms.


Pencil milling

Pencil milling is a cleanup toolpath generated by computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) programs to machine internal corners and fillets with smaller radius tools to remove the remaining material that are inaccessible with larger tools used for previous roughing, semi-finishing, and finishing toolpaths. The name comes from the way that a pencil could naturally be drawn along these corners. It is sometimes called a rolling ball toolpath.
Often a constant step-over passes are derived from single pencil pass to create parallel pencil passes that are very good for cleaning up corners and fillets where excess material remains from a bigger cutter.
Generating pencil toolpaths.
There are several alternative algorithms for generating pencil passes. The method most commonly published in the academic literature involves creating tool surface offsets of the model surfaces and intersecting them to find the common line where the cutter would be in contact with two surfaces at once. An example of this implementation uses the ZMap method described by Park, et al.
The industrial method, used in commercial CAM software, differs substantially and works by detecting double-contact points and linking them up into a chain to form a toolpath. A double-contact point is a pair of cutter locations displaced by a tiny distance horizontally, but with a large difference in height or sudden change in contact point. These positions can be located very precisely by binary subdivision, where a cutter location created between a pair of close cutter locations will almost always be continuous with one or the other side.