3D printing technology, no doubt, has become one of the core technology revolutions for the foreseeable future, the potential development of its heyday, it is a new rapid prototyping technology, it has recently been widespread concern in the community. 3D printing is normally done using a digit technology material printer. It can create almost everything from smartphone cases to paper towel holders and it is widely used. In the fields of medical, household appliances, automobile accessories, communication technology, aerospace, military industry and so on, 3D printing technology is gradually applied to the development and production of high-tech products.
As well 3D printer has become a household product. It has a big benefit on medical including create new body parts for patients and clinical trial. However, there are also negative impact such as mass-manufacturing decline.
Save your time!
We can take care of your essay
- Proper editing and formatting
- Free revision, title page, and bibliography
- Flexible prices and money-back guarantee
Place an order
Causes of 3D Printing
One cause of 3D printing is it has much less impact on the environment than traditional manufacturing. In recent years, people have aware of environmental pollution and environmental protection has become more and more important. 3D printing reduces carbon emissions. While traditional manufacturing brings pollution and waste, 3D printing has a positive impact on the environment by effectively reducing waste and carbon dioxide generated during the manufacturing process. In traditional manufacturing industry, it uses waste residue, waste water and waste gas produced by cutting, calcining, welding, grinding and other processes. It has serious bad impact on environmental. However, the 3D printer is mainly made of renewable biodegradation material, which is produced by high temperature melting through power supply and spews out molten materials and accumulates layer by layer. The utilization efficiency of raw materials is high without pollution of poisonous gas, noise and chemical substances. For example, 3D printer uses PLA (lactic acid). According to Koslow T. (2019), it’s a new renewable biodegradable material, which is made from raw material such as corn and cassava. 3D printing reduces carbon emissions, it uses material is green, environment-friendly.
Another cause of 3D printing is the speed is fast and does not require molds. According to Grieser F. (2016), also 3D printing not need to process and install links, it can be a piece of original machine. 3D printing is a technology that uses metal or plastic adhesives as printing materials and based on digital models to print layer by layer. A computer is connected to a 3D printer and the resulting drawings are printed out as models. More ambitious ideas in laboratories came up such as Russians plan to build futuristic moon base using 3D print technology, according to Osborne S. (2019).
Effects of 3D Printing
One of the effects of 3D printing is mass-manufacturing declining. No one would have thought that modern manufacturing could be done without factories. Since the manufacturing has been factories, machine tools, production lines and economies of scale. So, it is inconceivable that industrial production could be done without machine tools, assembly lines or supply chains. But this is happening, however, 3D printing have a big influence on manufacturing. According to 3DHubs (2019), 3D printing technology is that it is small in volume and can be customized according to needs. Compared with mass production in traditional factories and production lines, it can reduce a large of costs. 3D printing can also reduce production quality problems compared with traditional factory production. It often used to make custom-made, improved versions of products cheaply, and sometimes even industrially impossible ones - which is where they come in handy. A printer can make a wide variety of products, and sometimes even print them into shape without assembly. It's a workshop without a workshop, creating a new generation of do-it-yourself makers. No inventory required also. According to Mazzarol T. (2012), “if such technologies do become mainstream it is possible that the existing comparative advantage of low-cost manufacturing countries such as China may diminish”.
A future effect of 3D printing is medical revolution. According to the US National Library of Medicine (2014), medical props, models, consumables and other materials can be obtained through 3D printing. Using 3D printing technology, through computer image data can be formed into solid structure for medical teaching and operation practice. 3D printing it can create new body parts, such as copying bionic eye, antibacterial tooth, human bones, ovary and print heart and so on. According to Murphy J. (2018), 3D printing technology can produce damaged facial tissues, such as ear, nose and skin, etc., and obtain the corresponding tissues exactly matched with patients, so it reconstructs the complete image of patients' heads and achieve aesthetic effects. First, the face is scanned to 3D computer data that allows doctors to reconstruct parts of the patient that are missing. Compared with traditional techniques, this method is more accurate and the material selection is more diversified. With the increase of materials supported by 3D printing technology, the refinement of printing quality and the expansion of beauty market, the application level of facial modification and beauty will be further improved. According to Triple J Hack (2019), the world's first 3D-printed heart has been created. “We've moved one step closer to a future where doctors can simply whip up replacement organs made from your own cells, with Israeli researchers announcing they have just 3D-printed an entire heart using biological materials”.
Conclusion
3D printing technology is a major on the original manufacturing technology, which is slowly changes our production and life, but also plays an extremely important role in cultural creative design, industry, biological and medical fields. It can affect countries like China, a big manufacturing country, the mass-manufacturing would decline and reduce job opportunities, furthermore it can affect the GDP for many manufacturing countries. However, it also has a big benefit on medical progress and clinical study. Maybe within a decade, the best hospitals in the world will have organ printers, making organ and tissue printing a routine operation.