3D printing and its applications

Food is one of fundamental ingredients of life which is at the base of the pyramid of human needs. Bringing the food industry to the digital age is one of the essential and revolutionary applications of 3D printing.  Applying this technology enables fast automated and repeatable processes, freedom in design, as well as allowing large and easy variability of the cooking process which can be customized for each region or individual. Using robotic layer based food printing systems allows the recipe of the food to be digitized and saved in order to prepare very repeatable and high quality dishes without any margin for operator error. Also, the shape and decoration of the food can be individualized based on the customer or the occasion.

A company called Choc Edge is currently marketing "the world's first commercial 3D chocolate printer", the Choc Creator. It uses a nozzle to dispense molten chocolate into any pattern and shape. While the $3,500 price might be expensive for home use, it can prove to be very successful for niche shops tailoring to specific customers or events (3).

Figure 2: 3D printing of chocolate (3)

Researches in university of Cornell have demonstrated new materials suitable for baking, broiling and frying for use with food 3D printers. As it is shown in the figure printed objects were deep fried and retained their shape with minimal loss of detail due to deep frying.

Figure 3: 3D printing of food, before being frying (left), after frying (right) (4)

MIT’s Cornucopia program is also working on specialized 3D printers for the food industry and so far has designed four prototypes. The digital Chocolatier allows for the design of chocolate and candies which even has a "carousel" of ingredients, and the digital fabricator combines selected ingredients and turns them into "flavors and textures that would be completely unimaginable with other cooking techniques."

Shelter is another basic human necessity which can be an interesting application for 3D printing. The building industry is one of the last remaining fields where human labor and skills are the norm and mass manufacturing techniques and robots are considered science fiction. Given that a large portion of world population is without permanent shelter or food, it would be logical to think that these basic necessities should be top priority for robotized manufacturing techniques yet both the construction and food industries remain labor intensive. Conventional building methods are hazardous, time consuming, and expensive; 3D printing of buildings can enable automated creation of variety of buildings quickly and efficiently. This technology has been invented and developed in the University of Southern California. A scale down version of a house 3D printing machine is shown in figure 4.

Figure 4: Scaled down version of house 3D printing machine (left), 3D printed concrete layers (right) (5)

The technology can be used for a variety of housing projects with application in custom luxury designer homes, large scale development projects, to temporary housing projects. This technology could also enable engineers to design and build stiffer and safer geometries for houses i.e. Dom geometries which are typically very labor intensive and difficult to be constructed.

Figure 5: Safe and stiff construction design appropriate for earthquake regions, Dom shape 3D printed parts (5)

This technology can also help engineers to rebuild and restore old heritage designs quickly yet accurately.

Figure 6: Sagrada family, Gaudi design (left), 3D printed object similar to the Gaudi design (6)

It would also be possible to build individual intricate artistic designs never before possible while giving the architects freedom of design without sacrificing structural rigidity or safety of workers.

Figure 7: 3D printing of complicated geometries (6)

While much effort is put forth by individuals, societies, and businesses to improve our physical health, an ideal health is very subjective and could depend on location and vary over time. However, it can be said that the absence of sickness, specially, chronic illnesses is a requisite for good health. Illnesses, accidents, and aging deteriorate the body's or a specific organ's condition. Organ transplants have been successfully conducted for the past century; however, there has always been a shortage of donors or an inability to find a match between the donor and recipient in time. 3D printing is an advanced recent technology in this field which can be a revolutionary alternative with a variety of applications in the transplant and healthcare industry in general. 3D printing research is investigated in various fields within the healthcare industry; some of which are discussed in this section.

Becoming more integrated and secured implies improving life chances and providing people with equal opportunities. These opportunities may include the ability of human communication or mobility which is considerably difficult for people with various disabilities and illnesses such as considerable in disabilities cases like Arthrogryposis. Regarding this, 3D printing as an advanced technology can compensate the individual’s disability or deficiency by manufacturing complex composite 3D objects using 3D scanned data. It can help people regain mobility, improve their employment and social opportunities and possibly help self-reliance and alleviate self-confidence issues. As an example, a facial reconstruction surgery using a 3D printed eye bone is shown in the figure 11.

Figure 11: Scanned and designed CAD model (left), Integration due to 3D printed part (right) (1)

The education system plays an important role in aiding people achieve their full potential. 3D printing can revolutionize the learning experience by helping students interact with the subject matter. Affordable 3D printers in schools may be used for a variety of applications which can aid students in finding their field of interest easier and faster. Currently there are different types of educational projects in order to attract students to the various fields by giving them the opportunity to create and fabricate their own designs using 3D printing technology.

Figure 12: Students working on their own design using the 3D printing technology (left), Jewelry parts designed and printed by the students (right) (8)