Manufacturing 3D Technology

Running head: MANUFACTURING 3D TECHNOLOGY

Manufacturing 3D technology

Muhanna Alsharari

Fort Hays State University

MANUFACTURING 3D TECHNOLOGY 2

Manufacturing 3D Technology

The entire manufacturing process has been revolutionized over the years and innovative

technology widely applied in production of quality products. The core idea behind

manufacturing is to produce something that can be put into useful form. This involves

transforming a raw material into a useful final product. The required final form is usually

predetermined and calculated. Technology has played a vital role in this process of

manufacturing. With innovations cropping up every now and then, companies integrate different

techniques to make the process of producing products better (Rayna & Striukova, 2015).

Availability of technology has boosted the growth and wholesome development of many

industries. At the forefront is 3D printing technology that has attracted many manufacturers.

With this overwhelming adoption, there is no doubt 3D printing is fast replacing conventional

manufacturing in various applications.

3D technology has been applied for decades. The technology has been in existence since

1984. In this year first 3D printer was manufactured (Rayna & Striukova, 2015). The idea of 3D

printing originated from three engineers, Scott Crump, Carl Deckard and Chuck Hull who were

working in manufacturing. Their innovation was triggered by the desire to come up with a faster

and more accurate way of developing prototypes as opposed to the tedious, time consuming and

expensive traditional prototyping methods of welding, building and assembling. Concisely a

prototype is a demonstration that is similar to the product, developed to scale. . Prototyping is

critical and fundamental in manufacturing as it enables refining a product before it is built and

eliminates wastage of material and resources (Barnatt, 2013). Since then, 3D technology has

undergone tremendous development and its acquisition cost lowered making them more

affordable to many manufacturers.

MANUFACTURING 3D TECHNOLOGY 3

3D technology is an additive technology through which manufacturers make 3D items by

laying down successive materials. 3D printing is dependent on three basic technologies that are

stereolithography, stereolithography file format and computer –aided design that is SLA, STL

and CAD respectively. It is a process of creating objects starting from a digital model then

layering elements sequentially (D’Aveni, 2015). This process is different from traditional

methods that followed a substantive sequence in which layers were scraped from the original

object till they reached the desired shape (Pîrjan & Petroşanu, 2012). The basics of 3D printing

are materials, a process, file format and software. . The most common materials for 3D printing

are resins curable by UV and thermoplastic filaments. To come up with an object printed in 3D,

a digital image that is a true reflection of the object is created using the software. Next the digital

image is saved in a file format that is compatible with 3D printing. After saving the file format

slices the saved object into numerous very slim horizontal layers. The file format also avails the

instruction on how to pile the layers to the hardware so that the hardware builds the object. 3D

printing has three stages (Pîrjan & Petroşanu, 2012). In the first phase, which is the modeling

phase, the printer creates a virtual image identical to the physical representation. In the second

step, the printer reads the design and layers materials based on the virtual cross sections to form

the designed object (Rayna & Striukova, 2015). The last stage involves finishing the final

product from the model (D’Aveni, 2015). 3D printing makes use of 3D printers that create three-

dimensional diagrams representing designed or scanned items. Initially, companies used this

technology to make prototypes of products they intend to make. However, over time, 3D printing

has moved to be more than this to include manufacturing durable and safe products for consumer

use.

MANUFACTURING 3D TECHNOLOGY 4

Over time, more and more companies continue to adopt this technology. As at 2014,

more than a third manufacturing industries in the United States of America had taken this

technology (D’Aveni, 2015). Also with time, the number of printable materials that companies

use had significantly expanded from basic plastic to include cement, ceramics, glass, and

metals.3D technology has numerous advantages to businesses that use them. It provides room

for improvement of the design made by allowing one to make objects of different shapes using

different available materials (Pîrjan and Petroşanu, 2012). Through this technology, one has the

advantage t creating sophisticated models that are impossible to obtain using other available

techniques (Rayna and Striukova, 2015). In addition, it saves time and reduces wastage in

designing products as materials get used in making the final products (Pîrjan and Petroşanu,

2012). Additionally, one can create the smaller parts separately improving the accuracy of the

designs. Another significant advantage of 3D technology is that the can send the models to the

clients for approval before making the final products (Rayna and Striukova, 2015). Furthermore,

the technology is applicable in all sectors including engineering, design, and medicine among

others. The disadvantages associated with this technology include its high cost and the fact that

sometimes the products are of lower quality than those made traditionally (Pîrjan and Petroşanu,

2012). However, the reality that its advantages outweigh the disadvantages makes it widely

acceptable in manufacturing.

3D printing is one of the accepted technologies used in production. In industries such as

automotive, health care, aerospace, energy, clothing, architecture, culinary and dentistry, 3D

printing has gained a lot of popularity. For example in health care 3D has made it possible for

doctors to print such things as a jawbone (Bingheng & Dichen, 2013). Architects can easily

come up with a concept model of their intended buildings and enhance their understanding of

MANUFACTURING 3D TECHNOLOGY 5

how the different structural elements will complement each other. 3D printing is different from

the traditional manufacturing in that unlike the later which created objects through removing or

subtracting materials. 3D constructs an object through layer-by-layer material addition. They

also differ in areas of application where they excel. Unlike traditional manufacturing that excels

in mass production, 3D printing is best where mass customization is required (Bingheng &

Dichen, 2013).

From the above discussion, it is outright that 3D printing has numerous benefits. Such

benefits include ability for companies to build to the point virtual models of the whole part

before producing the actual product and speedy prototyping that eventually reduces on the

production time of a product as opposed to the past where it would take days or even weeks to

produce a prototype (Bingheng & Dichen, 2013). In addition, 3D technology has brought about

risk mitigation in the sense that it enables verification of a design through printing a prototype

that is production-ready way before a manufacturer can invest in capital-intensive manufacturing

equipment such as jigs and molds. It also allows for visual inspection of an intended production

thereby enhancing understanding as well as enable on demand production.

However, 3D printing has its drawbacks. One of the major drawback that is inhibiting its

adoption is the high cost of hardware acquisition. Another drawback is the size of the parts that

can be created using 3D printers. For instance, affordable 3D printing hardware are usually

small. There is limited range of materials that can be used in 3D printing. This technology uses

additive fashion in building printed parts (Imeson et al., 2013). As such, the materials that can be

melted and deposited in layers are not very many. 3D printers may also be a potential source of

healthy risk especially when used at home due to the emissions that result from the process.

MANUFACTURING 3D TECHNOLOGY 6

In conclusion, the benefits of 3D technology outweighs the limitations. There is no doubt

3D technology will the backbone of almost all manufacturing industries. Currently aerospace and

automotive industries are relying on 3D technology and the list is only likely to grow in the near

future.

MANUFACTURING 3D TECHNOLOGY 7

References

D’Aveni, R. (2015). The 3-D Printing Revolution.Havard Business Review.Retrieved from

https://hbr.org/2015/05/the-3-d-printing-revolution.

Pîrjan, A. & Petroşanu D. (2012). The Impact of 3D Printing Technology on the Society and

Economy. Retrieved from ftp://ftp.repec.org/opt/ReDIF/RePEc/rau/jisomg/Wi13/JISOM-

WI13-A19.pdf

Rayna, T. & Striukova, L. (2015). From Rapid Prototyping to Home Fabrication: How 3D

Printing is Changing Business Model Innovation. Technological Forecasting and Social

ChangeVolume 102, Pages 214-224. Retrieved from

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162515002425

Bingheng, L., & Dichen, L. (2013). Development of the additive manufacturing (3D printing)

technology. Machine Building & Automation, 4, 001.

Imeson, F., Emtenan, A., Garg, S., & Tripunitara, M. V. (2013, August). Securing Computer

Hardware Using 3D Integrated Circuit (IC) Technology and Split Manufacturing for

Obfuscation. In USENIX Security Symposium (pp. 495-510).

Barnatt, C. (2013). 3D printing: the next industrial revolution. Nottingham:

ExplainingTheFuture. com.

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