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Recent Advances in 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing

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A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "D3: 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 October 2022) | Viewed by 8392

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Pankaj Kumar

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of New Mexico, MSC01 1150, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
Interests: advanced manufacturing; additive manufacturing; alloys and microstructure design; mechanical behavior of materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Leslie T. Mushongera

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Interests: advanced manufacturing; alloy design; mechanical behavior of materials and modeling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, 3D printing and additive manufacturing have emerged as a cost-effective and on-demand manufacturing technology for materials ranging from polymers to metals and alloys as well as ceramics. The ability to design and manufacture virtually any complex shape using a wide range of materials allows this technology to be adopted in research and production across a wide range of biomedical, organ printing, tissue engineering, aerospace, and automobile applications. The advancement of 3D printing and additive manufacturing has changed the manufacturing strategy to digital design, engineering, and processes in the manufacturing of consumer products, aerospace parts, biomedical devices, etc. Three-dimensional printing and additive manufacturing are key enabling technologies to increase the accuracy of product development and integrate different scales of manufacturing in mass production. These technologies hold an important role in the future of aerospace, automobiles, and healthcare. This Special Issue seeks research papers and review articles that focus on 3D printing and additive manufacturing, including novel processes, optimization, and applications of polymers, metals and alloys, ceramics, etc.

Dr. Pankaj Kumar
Dr. Leslie T. Mushongera
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

3D printing
additive manufacturing
digital manufacturing
rapid prototyping
reverse engineering

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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24 pages, 19663 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Multi-Part Orientation Planning Schema for Fabrication of Non-Related Components Using Additive Manufacturing

by Osama Abdulhameed, Syed Hammad Mian, Khaja Moiduddin, Abdulrahman Al-Ahmari, Naveed Ahmed and Mohamed K. Aboudaif

Micromachines 2022, 13(10), 1777; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13101777 - 19 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1896

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a technique that progressively deposits material in layer-by-layer manner (or in additive fashion) for producing a three-dimensional (3D) object, starting from the computer-aided design (CAD) model. This approach allows for the printing of complicated shaped objects and is quickly gaining traction in the aerospace, medical implant, jewelry, footwear, automotive, and fashion industries. AM, which was formerly used for single part customization, is currently being considered for mass customization of parts because of its positive impacts. However, part quality and build time are two main impediments to the deployment of AM for mass production. The optimal part orientation is fundamental for maximizing the part’s quality as well as being critical for reducing the fabrication time. This research provides a new method for multi-part AM production that improves quality while reducing overall build time. The automatic setup planning or orientation approach described in this paper employs two objective functions: the quality of the build component and the build time. To tackle the given problem, it introduces a three-step genetic algorithm (GA)-based solution. A feature-based technique is utilized to generate a collection of finite alternative orientations for each component within a specific part group to ensure each part’s individual build quality. Then, a GA was utilized to find the best combination of part build orientations at a global optimal level to reduce material consumption and build time. A case study of orienting nine components concurrently inside a given building chamber was provided for illustration. The findings suggest that the developed technique can increase quality, reduce support waste, and shorten overall production time. When components are positioned optimally rather than in random orientations, build time and support volume are reduced by approximately 7% and 16%, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing)

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9 pages, 1550 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Simple Preparation of Metal-Impregnated FDM 3D-Printed Structures

by Diana Flores, Jose Noboa, Mickaela Tarapues, Karla Vizuete, Alexis Debut, Lorena Bejarano, Daniela Almeida Streitwieser and Sebastian Ponce

Micromachines 2022, 13(10), 1675; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13101675 - 4 Oct 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1769

Abstract

Modifying the natural characteristics of PLA 3D-printed models is of interest in various research areas in which 3D-printing is applied. Thus, in this study, we describe the simple impregnation of FDM 3D-printed PLA samples with well-defined silver nanoparticles and an iron metal salt. Quasi-spherical and dodecahedra silver particles were strongly attached at the channels of 3D-printed milli-fluidic reactors to demonstrate their attachment and interaction with the flow, as an example. Furthermore, Fenton-like reactions were successfully developed by an iron catalyst impregnated in 3D-printed stirrer caps to induce the degradation of a dye and showed excellent reproducibility. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing)

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Review

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32 pages, 9550 KiB

Open AccessReview

Patient-Specific 3D-Printed Low-Cost Models in Medical Education and Clinical Practice

by Zhonghua Sun, Yin How Wong and Chai Hong Yeong

Micromachines 2023, 14(2), 464; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14020464 - 16 Feb 2023

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4169

Abstract

3D printing has been increasingly used for medical applications with studies reporting its value, ranging from medical education to pre-surgical planning and simulation, assisting doctor–patient communication or communication with clinicians, and the development of optimal computed tomography (CT) imaging protocols. This article presents our experience of utilising a 3D-printing facility to print a range of patient-specific low-cost models for medical applications. These models include personalized models in cardiovascular disease (from congenital heart disease to aortic aneurysm, aortic dissection and coronary artery disease) and tumours (lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and biliary disease) based on CT data. Furthermore, we designed and developed novel 3D-printed models, including a 3D-printed breast model for the simulation of breast cancer magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and calcified coronary plaques for the simulation of extensive calcifications in the coronary arteries. Most of these 3D-printed models were scanned with CT (except for the breast model which was scanned using MRI) for investigation of their educational and clinical value, with promising results achieved. The models were confirmed to be highly accurate in replicating both anatomy and pathology in different body regions with affordable costs. Our experience of producing low-cost and affordable 3D-printed models highlights the feasibility of utilizing 3D-printing technology in medical education and clinical practice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing)

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