Not many years ago, printing three-dimensional objects at home might have sounded like a thing out of The Jetsons. But in just a few short years, 3D printing has exploded -- shifting from a niche technology to a game-changing innovation that is capturing the imagination of major manufacturers and hobbyists alike.
3D printing has the potential to revolutionize manufacturing, allowing companies (and individuals) to design and produce products in new ways while also reducing material waste, saving energy and shortening the time needed to bring products to market.
First invented in the 1980s by Chuck Hull, an engineer and physicist, 3D printing technology has come a long way. Also called additive manufacturing, 3D printing is the process of making an object by depositing material, one tiny layer at a time.
The basic idea behind additive manufacturing can be found in rock formations deep underground (dripping water deposits thin layers of minerals to form stalactites and stalagmites), but a more modern example is a common desktop printer. Just like an inkjet printer adds individual dots of ink to form an image, a 3D printer only adds material where it is needed based on a digital file.
In comparison, many conventional manufacturing processes -- which have recently been termed “subtractive manufacturing” -- require cutting away excess materials to make the desired part. The result: Subtractive manufacturing can waste up to 30 pounds of material for every 1 pound of useful material in some parts, according to a finding from the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge National Lab.
With some 3D printing processes, about 98 percent of the raw material is used in the finished part. Not to mention, 3D printing enables manufacturers to create new shapes and lighter parts that use less raw material and require fewer manufacturing steps. In turn, that can translate into lower energy use for 3D printing -- up to 50 percent less energy for certain processes compared to conventional manufacturing processes.
Though the possibilities for additive manufacturing are endless, today 3D printing is mostly used to build small, relatively costly components using plastics and metal powders. Yet, as the price of desktop 3D printers continues to drop, some innovators are experimenting with different materials like chocolate and other food items, wax, ceramics and biomaterial similar to human cells.
Additive manufacturing technology comes in many shapes and sizes, but no matter the type of 3D printer or material you are using, the 3D printing process follows the same basic steps.
It starts with creating a 3D blueprint using computer-aided design (commonly called CAD) software. Creators are only limited by their imaginations. For example, 3D printers have been used to manufacture everything from robots and prosthetic limbs to custom shoes and musical instruments. Oak Ridge National Lab is even partnering with a company to create the first 3D printed car using a large-scale 3D printer, and America Makes -- the President’s pilot manufacturing innovation institute that focuses on 3D printing -- recently announced it was providing funding for a new low-cost 3D metal printer.
Once the 3D blueprint is created, the printer needs to be prepared. This includes refilling the raw materials (such as plastics, metal powders or binding solutions) and preparing the build platform (in some instances, you might have to clean it or apply an adhesive to prevent movement and warping from the heat during the printing process).
Once you hit print, the machine takes over, automatically building the desired object. While printing processes vary depending on the type of 3D printing technology, material extrusion (which includes a number of different types of processes such as fused deposition modeling) is the most common process used in desktop 3D printers.
Material extrusion works like a glue gun. The printing material -- typically a plastic filament -- is heated until it liquefies and extruded through the print nozzle. Using information from the digital file -- the design is split into thin two-dimensional cross-sections so the printer knows exactly where to put material -- the nozzle deposits the polymer in thin layers, often 0.1 millimeter thick. The polymer solidifies quickly, bonding to the layer below before the build platform lowers and the print head adds another layer. Depending on the size and complexity of the object, the entire process can take anywhere from minutes to days.
After the printing is finished, every object requires a bit of post-processing. This can range from unsticking the object from the build platform to removing support structures (temporary material printed to support overhangs on the object) to brushing off excess powders.
Over the years, the 3D printing industry has grown dramatically, creating new technologies (and a new language to describe the different additive manufacturing processes). To help simplify this language, ASTM International -- an international standards organization -- released standard terminology in 2012 that classified additive manufacturing technologies into seven broad categories. Below are quick summaries of the different types of 3D.
While 3D printing isn’t new, recent advancements in the technology (along with the rise in popularity of sites like Esty and Kickstarter) have sparked a creative manufacturing renaissance -- where anyone with access to a printer is a manufacturer and product customization is nearly unlimited.
3D printers and other manufacturing technologies are turning consumers into creators -- or makers of things. This movement, often called the Maker Movement, is helping spur innovation and creating a whole new way of doing business. Products no longer have to be mass manufactured -- they can be made in small batches, printed on the spot or customized for an individual’s unique needs.
This new way of thinking is also trickling down into the classroom through access to 3D printers. Students aren’t limited to imagining cool, new ideas -- they can make them a reality, and it’s inspiring them to go into STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. To educate students about additive manufacturing and the potential it holds, the Energy Department, Oak Ridge National Lab and America Makes donated almost 450 3D printers to teams competing in the FIRST Robotics competition this year.
The rise of the Maker Movement -- embraced by both the young and old -- represents a huge opportunity for the United States. It can create a foundation for new products and processes that can help revitalize American manufacturing. To celebrate this potential, President Obama hosted the first White House Maker Faire -- allowing innovators and entrepreneurs of all ages to show what they’ve made and share what they’ve learned.
Additive manufacturing isn’t just impacting the Maker Movement, it’s also changing the way companies and federal agencies do business.
Companies are turning to additive manufacturing to build parts that weren’t possible before -- an example that many point to is GE’s use of 3D printers to create fuel nozzles for a new jet engine that are stronger and lighter than conventional parts -- and federal agencies are exploring ways to use the technology to better meet their missions. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services created the NIH 3D Print Exchange to better share biomedical 3D-printable models across the medical community while NASA is exploring how 3D printing works in space.
Yet, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to additive manufacturing’s potential. For manufacturers, additive manufacturing will enable a wide range of new product designs that can increase industry competitiveness, lower industry energy consumption and help grow the clean energy economy.
From helping fund America Makes, a public-private partnership designed to make the U.S. the leader in 3D printing, to establishing the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge Lab, the Energy Department is providing companies with access to 3D printing technologies and educating them -- and future engineers -- about the technology’s possibilities. To ensure the technology moves forward, the Department’s National Labs are partnering with industry to create new 3D printing technology. Lawrence Livermore National Lab recently announced a collaboration to develop new 3D printing materials, hardware and software, and Oak Ridge National Lab is partnering to develop a new commercial additive manufacturing system that is 200 to 500 times faster and could print plastic components 10 times larger than today’s commercial 3D printers.
As the prices drop and the technology becomes faster and more precise, 3D printing is poised to change the way companies and consumers think about manufacturing -- much in the same way the first computers led to the rapid access to knowledge that we now take for granted.
(Link: https://energy.gov/articles/how-3d-printers-work)
Digital manufacturing paves the way for innovation, mass customization, and greater energy efficiency as part of the national all-of-the-above energy strategy. sAdditive manufacturing techniques create 3-D objects directly from a computer model, depositing material only where required. These new techniques, while still evolving, are projected to exert a profound impact on manufacturing. They can give industry new design flexibility, reduce energy use, and shorten time to market. The process is often called 3-D printing or digital manufacturing because of similarities to standard desktop printing.
Interest in additive techniques has grown swiftly as applications have progressed from rapid prototyping to the production of end-use products. Additive equipment can now use metals, polymers, composites, or other powders to “print” a range of functional components, layer by layer, including complex structures that cannot be manufactured by other means.
The ability to modify a design online and immediately create the item—without wasteful casting or drilling—makes additive manufacturing an economical way to create single items, small batches, and, potentially, mass-produced items. The sector-wide ramifications of this capability have captured the imaginations of investors.
Revolutionary Speed, Efficiency, Optimization
Additive manufacturing has the potential to vastly accelerate innovation, compress supply chains, minimize materials and energy usage, and reduce waste.
Lower energy intensity: These techniques save energy by eliminating production steps, using substantially less material, enabling reuse of by-products, and producing lighter products. Remanufacturing parts through advanced additive manufacturing and surface treatment processes can also return end-of-life products to as-new condition, using only 2−25% of the energy required to make new parts.
Applications
Industry is taking advantage of additive manufacturing to produce plastic, metal, or composite parts and custom products without the cost, time, tooling, and overhead required in the traditional machining or manufacturing processes. This technology is particularly advantageous in low-to-moderate volume markets (defense and aerospace) that regularly operate without economies of scale.
Today, additive manufacturing is reducing the aerospace industry’s important materials measure, the “buy-to-fly” ratio—pounds of material needed to make one pound of aerospace-quality material—by more than half. For example, engineers are taking advantage of additive manufacturing to simultaneously reduce material requirements and easily create engine parts with complex internal structures. Jet ducts in Boeing F-18 fighters can be made with smoothly curving channels that allow more efficient air and fluid flow than those created with the difficult traditional method of boring through solid structures.
Many military applications also often require miniaturized, custom-designed units in relatively small numbers. Additive manufacturing also supports rapid development and production to meet the military’s specialized functional requirements.
For the automotive industry, additive manufacturing holds great promise. Vehicle bodies and engines could be made using fewer parts and rapidly redesigned to minimize failures. The traditional assembly line could even become a thing of the past for some industries.
The healthcare industry is investing in tailored prosthetics, dental implants, hearing aids, and other types of medical devices and tools. Manufacturers of many consumer products may soon be using additive techniques in their production processes to embed electronic components and circuits in substrates, reduce device weight and volume, and improve electrical performance.
Challenges
While some manufacturers have been using additive manufacturing to make prototypes, improved additive processes are gaining acceptance in some markets. To achieve a wider range of applications, research will need to overcome some key challenges, including the following:
The full potential of additive manufacturing will be realized when the technology is integrated into broad manufacturing solutions. In applications where additive manufacturing is competitive, 50% or more energy savings can be realized. Companies that explore the potential of these game-changing techniques and introduce novel products can earn a competitive edge in global markets.
(Link: https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/12/f5/additive_manufacturing.pdf)
3D Printing of Medical Devices
3D printing is a type of additive manufacturing. There are several types of additive manufacturing, but the terms 3D printing and additive manufacturing are often used interchangeably. Here we will refer to both as 3D printing for simplicity.
3D printing is a process that creates a three-dimensional object by building successive layers of raw material. Each new layer is attached to the previous one until the object is complete. Objects are produced from a digital 3D file, such as a computer-aided design (CAD) drawing or a Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI).
The flexibility of 3D printing allows designers to make changes easily without the need to set up additional equipment or tools. It also enables manufacturers to create devices matched to a patient’s anatomy (patient-specific devices) or devices with very complex internal structures. These capabilities have sparked huge interest in 3D printing of medical devices and other products, including food, household items, and automotive parts.
Medical devices produced by 3D printing include orthopedic and cranial implants, surgical instruments, dental restorations such as crowns, and external prosthetics. Due to its versatility, 3D printing has medical applications in:
(Link: http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/3DPrintingofMedicalDevices/default.h
Oak Ridge National Laboratory produced the world’s largest solid 3D-printed object.
When Boeing makes big airplanes, it needs special tools that you can’t find in a hardware store. But ordering custom metal tools is expensive and takes months. That’s where 3D-printing comes in.
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Lab developed a 3D-printed version of a “trim-and-drill” tool that Boeing uses to build the wings on its passenger aircraft. About the size of an SUV, the tool weighs 1,650 lbs and measures 17.5 feet long, 5.5 feet wide and 1.5 feet tall, making it the world’s largest solid object made with a 3D printer. It took 30 hours to print using carbon fiber and composite plastic materials.
Using 3D-printing makes the final product cheaper and quicker to manufacture, and it works just as well as the conventional metal version. The tool promises to save energy, time and money once Boeing begins the production of its 777X passenger jet in St. Louis starting in 2017.
Advanced manufacturing is transforming the way we make everything, and Oak Ridge is pushing the frontier. At the lab’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, the goal is to show off the potential for new methods like 3D-printing and new materials like advanced composites. In addition to the tool for Boeing, this facility 3D-printed a Shelby Cobra sports car, a house/car energy system and an Army Jeep. And they’re also experimenting with 3D-printed molds for wind turbine blades, which would drastically cut down manufacturing time for turbine blades and make it easier to test out new designs.
Why is the Energy Department investing in manufacturing technologies? Building lighter products in less time offers huge energy savings. And when it’s quicker and cheaper to build things, the pace of innovation accelerates as well. That combination is great news for our clean energy future.
(Link: https://www.energy.gov/articles/world-s-largest-3d-printed-object)
3D Printed Shelby Cobra
Next-generation manufacturing takes on a 50 year old icon as ORNL researchers transform this classic sports car into a 3D- printed laboratory on wheels. Additive manufacturing enables the seamless integration of advanced technologies with design flexibility and modularity while providing a platform for rapid development and evaluation. The printed car incorporates “plug and play” components such as new engine, battery, and fuel cell technologies; hybrid system designs; and power electronics and wireless charging systems, allowing researchers to easily and quickly test out innovative ideas in a driving laboratory.
(Link: http://web.ornl.gov/sci/manufacturing/shelby/)
Wind Turbine Manufacturing Transforms with Three-Dimensional Printing
Research that supports the Energy Department’s Atmosphere to Electrons (A2e) initiative is applying 3-D-printing processes to create wind turbine blade molds. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed the Big Area Additive Manufacturing machine, which is being used to apply 3-D printing processes to manufacture wind turbine components for use in Energy Department research. The groundbreaking tool is capable of printing objects that are 10 times larger at speeds up to 1,000 times faster than today’s industrial additive machines.
This research promises to reduce the cost of blade manufacturing and wind energy overall, as blades represent one of the most expensive components of a wind turbine. The processes currently used to manufacture utility-scale wind turbine blades—which can average over 150 feet in length—are complex, energy-intensive, and time-consuming. Trends toward larger blades, coupled with the drive for global competitiveness, inspired the Energy Department’s Wind Program and the Advanced Manufacturing Office to explore new manufacturing technologies.
As part of an effort to expand the throughput and size of the additive manufacturing process, Oak Ridge National Laboratory partnered with Cincinnati Incorporated to develop the Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) machine. BAAM created a 3-D-printed replica Shelby Cobra automobile, which was displayed at the Energy Department’s Washington, D.C., headquarters and showcased in Paris at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the JEC World Conference. BAAM is capable of printing a staggering 100 pounds of polymer materials per hour, which is 500 to 1,000 times faster than conventional 3-D printers. Moreover, BAAM can print components that are 10 times larger (20 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 6 feet tall) than today’s industrial additive machines.
The technology is also scalable, making the manufacture of other large components a future possibility. For now, the Energy Department will take advantage of the availability of BAAM to evaluate whether it can simplify the manufacture of turbine blade molds. Currently, a “plug” must be manufactured and then used to form a mold out of which fiberglass blades can be constructed. Eliminating the plug by applying 3-D printing directly to the mold process will reduce the costs and amount of time required for blade manufacture.
In this demonstration project, the Energy Department will partner with Oak Ridge, Sandia National Laboratories, NREL, and TPI Composites Incorporated to use 3-D printing in the manufacture of a mold for special scaled-down turbine blades designed to simulate the aerodynamic characteristics of a full-size turbine. These research blades will measure 13 meters (approximately 43 feet) in length and undergo static and fatigue testing at NREL. The blades will then be operated using wind turbines at the Energy Department’s Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWiFT) facility in Texas. This effort will help researchers study wake aerodynamics—that is, the effects that turbines in close proximity to one another can have on productivity. This research will be used to understand and enhance the efficiency of a complete wind plant, comprised of numerous wind turbines.
Three-dimensional printing is just one way the Energy Department is leading the United States toward a clean energy future and increasing our nation’s competitiveness through research into new, more efficient technologies.