Two years ago, a British man was involved in a terrible accident, while riding his bike, half of his face was completely destroyed. Using X ray, CT scan, and CGI technology, scientists were able to create an identical copy of the bikers undamaged face to reconstruct the other half with 3D printing (Griffiths, 2013). Since 3D printing has evolved from what it was 20 years ago, his facial reconstruction surgery made it seem as if nothing had happened to his face. 3D printing has found its way into everything that we do in life. We have managed to create functioning cars with 3D printing technology. 3D printing doesn’t just consist of making cool life like objects, it helps saves lives everyday.
3D printing is the process of making a three dimensional …show more content…
There are many forms of printing processes you can take to print what you desire. In order to print something, the first thing you need to have is a visual design. Your visual design can be acquired be either a design you have designed yourself using 3D software or by using scanning technology. With scanning technology, you can scan anything and the printer would produce it exactly the same. After you have your visual design, you choose what method of printing and what materials you want to use. The materials you can use ranges from plastics to metals and ceramics. There are 6 3D printing processes that can be chosen from. The processes are Material Jetting, Binder Jetting, Powder Bed Fusion, Directed Energy Deposition, Sheet Lamination, and Vat Photopolymerization. Material Jetting is like using a normal printer with ink. The most common material that is used for this process is plastics that are hardened with UV light. Binder Jetting starts with a base of powder. The powder is sprayed multiple times with a binding fluid causing it to harden and is repeated until printing is completed. Powder Bed Fusion is similar to to the latter process but the layers of the bonded powder are fused together with intense heat or pressure. Directed Energy Deposition starts with the remnants of metal powder and is melted with extreme energy which is usually a laser. This process is used mostly for repairs rather than printing a complete object. Sheet Lamination starts with either metals or papers that are bonded together with glue. Sheet Lamination is the lowest costing but least accurate printing method. Last is Vat Photopolymerization which is the oldest 3D printing process that uses liquid resin that is hardened with UV light. With these processes in mind, what we can create with 3D printing is simply
3D printing is the process of making a three dimensional …show more content…
There are many forms of printing processes you can take to print what you desire. In order to print something, the first thing you need to have is a visual design. Your visual design can be acquired be either a design you have designed yourself using 3D software or by using scanning technology. With scanning technology, you can scan anything and the printer would produce it exactly the same. After you have your visual design, you choose what method of printing and what materials you want to use. The materials you can use ranges from plastics to metals and ceramics. There are 6 3D printing processes that can be chosen from. The processes are Material Jetting, Binder Jetting, Powder Bed Fusion, Directed Energy Deposition, Sheet Lamination, and Vat Photopolymerization. Material Jetting is like using a normal printer with ink. The most common material that is used for this process is plastics that are hardened with UV light. Binder Jetting starts with a base of powder. The powder is sprayed multiple times with a binding fluid causing it to harden and is repeated until printing is completed. Powder Bed Fusion is similar to to the latter process but the layers of the bonded powder are fused together with intense heat or pressure. Directed Energy Deposition starts with the remnants of metal powder and is melted with extreme energy which is usually a laser. This process is used mostly for repairs rather than printing a complete object. Sheet Lamination starts with either metals or papers that are bonded together with glue. Sheet Lamination is the lowest costing but least accurate printing method. Last is Vat Photopolymerization which is the oldest 3D printing process that uses liquid resin that is hardened with UV light. With these processes in mind, what we can create with 3D printing is simply