4d Print
4d Print
C ERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Technical Seminar Report entitled 4D printing is the bonafide record of the
Technical Seminar Work carried out under my Guidance and Supervision by
S.Valibasha 172n5a0333
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical
Engineering and is submitted in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Brindavan Institute of
Technology & Science, NH-7, Peddatekur, Kurnool.
My hard work never shines if do not convey my heartfelt gratitude to those people
from whom I got considerable support and encourage during this Technical Seminar.
I would like to express our gratitude to my Guide D.Ibrahim kalil basha Assistant
professor of Mechanical Engineering BRINDAVAN INSTIUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
AND SCIENCE, for his constant support and guidance throughout the seminar work.
I also Express our special thanks to Prof. N. Siva Prasad Reddy Academic
Director and Dr. A. Sreekanth goud Principal, BRINDAVAN INSTUTURE OF
TACHNOLOGY & SCIENCE, for their support and encouragement to complete my
Technical Seminar.
I am happy to express our sincere thanks to all teaching and non-teaching staff,
Department of Mechanical Engineering for their help. Finally, I am thankful to all those who
helped directly or indirectly in making endeavor a success.
S.Valibasha
172n5a0333
4D Printing Technology
It has been more than 30 years since the first patent was issued for Stereolithography
Apparatus (SLA), invented by Charles (Chuck) Hall in 1980´s. Initially known as Rapid
Prototyping technology, with further advancement now called additive manufacturing or
3D printing technology. (Industry 3. , 2014) Nowadays, 3D printing machine is used not
just in industry for production but also in school, households and offices. As the price
for normal desktop 3D printer has fallen below 1000 euro, affordable price allows
unlimited opportunities for individual to print their own customized toys, household
appliances and tools.
However, there is always something more than can be done with the current ongoing
technology. 3D printed materials can be more flexible and useful, the structures of the
material can transform in a pre-programmed way in response to any external stimulus.
In general, self-changing structure of 3D printed part after post process is called 4D
printing process. (Stratasys, 4D Printing, 2014)
Smart Materials
Global competition among technological giants and demand for new generation of
indus- trial, commercial, medical, automotive and aerospace applications has fueled
research
and studies focused on advanced materials and smart structures. Researchers are devel-
oping ultimate materials which can be applied in multipurpose scientific and technologi-
cal applications. Those smart materials or intelligent materials features fibrous
polymeric composite materials capable of sensing external command in the form of
heat, light, elec- tricity, magnet, water and many other agents. Diverse application and
structures of smart materials will certainly revolutionize the current generation. Starting
from wooden and stone materials from the Stone Age to copper followed by bronze and
Iron Age, human mankind have developed a new age and we can call them Smart
Material Age.
Human civilization has been directly influenced by materials technologies and those
ma- terials has given mankind to become superior among other living beings in this
planet. The timeline of human civilization such as Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age
depicts the progress of materials choice and selection. The current synthetic materials
featuring plastics and composites, biomaterials represents the new age of materials.
Various inno- vation in diverse field of science including manufacturing,
nanotechnology, material sci- ence, automation featuring smart materials sill
significantly impose positive impact on civilization. The current generation of
innovation has already seen some classes of mate- rials such as executing specific
functions autonomously in response to changing environ- mental stimuli, embedded
sensory capabilities in order to comply with programmed shape.
Smart materials incorporates with actuators and sensors and are highly integrated within
the structure functionality. Characteristics like signal conditioning, signal power
amplifi- cation and highly integrated control logic in a materials are influenced by
mechanical, thermal, optical, magnetic or electric source as shown in Table 2. Light
influence smart materials are capable of changing its color, shape and mechanically
smart materials are capable of altering mechanical states such as positon, velocity,
stiffness or damping. The transition of laminated materials technology which are built
up from smaller constitutive elements helps expanding the active element within the
structure. Smart ply or piece of composite material can be developed with the capability
of carrying actuators, sensors, processers and inter connections. The development of
microelectronics, switching cir- cuitry, fiber optic technology and information
processing techniques has further advances evolution of smart materials. (Talbot, 2003)
Table 2 represents classification of smart materials along with the input force they
require and output.
Table 2. Classification of Smart Materials (Kamila, 2013)
Piezoelectric materials
In order to continue with 4D printing process, it is really important to know about the
smart materials and their behavior. The relationship between chemical composition of
shape changing polymer and its physical properties such as thermal, mechanical, optical
and electrical properties.
To measure thermal and optical properties of polymer, processes like UV-Vis spectros-
copy, differential scanning calorimetry, and polarizing light microscope are used. Using
standard testing bar, stress/strain relationship and hardness measurement can be per-
formed. As the main goal is to identify and study about shape changing behavior of ma-
terial. Various external sources or energies are applied over the extruded object.
Varying thermal energy, magnetic field, electricity, different levels of light intensity and
exposing directly towards printed object changes the bending angle, speed, percentage
volume con- traction, reversibility and mechanical output. Those measuring data helps
to gain knowledge in developing 4D printing process. (Org, 2016)
Shape memory alloy or polymers are emerging smart materials that have dual shape ca-
pability. Shape memory alloys go transformation under predefined shape from one to
another when exposed to appropriate stimulus. Initially founded on thermal induced
dual- shape research, this concept has been extended to other activating process such as
direct thermal actuation or indirect actuation. The applications can be found in various
areas of
our everyday life. Heat shrinkable tubes, intelligent medical parts, self-deployable part
in spacecraft are few used area with potential in broad other applications.
The process in shape memory polymer is not intrinsic, it requires combination of a poly-
mer and programmed afterwards. The structure of polymer is deformed and put it into
temporary shape. Whenever required, the polymer gains its final shape when external
energy is applied. Most of the shape memory polymers required heat as activating
agent.
Figure 16. Time line of shape memory tube. (Marc Behl, 2007)
The above figure shows the time series of shape memory tube. The material used in tube
is poly dimethacylate polymer. Initially the shape was programmed to form flat helix,
using heat energy ranging from 10 degree to 50 degree centigrade, flat helix
transformed into tube shape structure.
Magnetostrictive Materials
4D Printing Process
Fabrication
As the printer deposits UV curable polymer and cures layer by layer using UV light
thereby creating complete 3D structure, printers are capable of printing multiple compo-
site materials with various properties such as color pattern, material hardness and trans-
parency allowing creation of complex, multiple composite parts in single process.
Digital materials can be printed with this process. The properties can be digitally
adjusted and
altered with the digital material. The combination of digital material with different pro-
portion and spatial arrangements plays significant role providing additional flexibility.
4D printed parts are generally composed of rigid plastic and digital material that reacts
upon external energy source. In case of hydrophilic UV curable polymer, when exposed
to water, the structure absorbs and creates hydrogel with upto 150 percentage of original
volume. The shape transformation of the structure is linear in this case, but when the
polymer structure is combined with different composite material that reacts differently
with water, complex geometric transformation occurs. Transformation can be controlled
by adjusting pure expandable polymer with digital composite material as per
requirement. (Thomas A. Campbell, 2014)
For any bending or folding structure, joint plays important role as controlling of joints
adjusts the desired shape of structure.
Printing 4D joint includes multiple layers of material. Composition of rigid polymer, ex-
panding material and digital material depicts the folding direction and pattern. Those
ma- terials are placed above or below of each other depending upon the type of
transformation.
If the expanding composite is placed above rigid polymer, the surface will fold down-
wards and if placed below, the surface will fold upwards. This folding happens due to
downward or upward force applied to rigid material. With the digital polymer
composite, the control of folding the joints becomes much desirable. The time duration
of folding depends upon the expandable material or digital material. If higher expanding
composite is used, there will be more folding force increasing folding time. Similarly,
less expanding composite will generate less folding force thereby decreasing folding
time. The angle of folding can be controlled by printing rigid discs at each vertex. The
distance between rigid disc and diameter of disc defines angular variation. Those discs
bumps each other when expanding material is activated and stops folding at certain
angle. The angle of folding is determined by the distance of rigid disc and its diameter.
When the discs are placed fur- ther away from each another, angle of folding will
increase and when discs are place close to each other, folding angle decreases. Also the
increasing diameter of discs decreases the folding angle and vice versa. (Self-Assembly
Lab, 2016)
In his research, Skyler Tibbits demonstrated custom angle transformation creating trun-
cated octahedron shape. Similar mechanism as folding strand described previously,
series of flat two dimensional structures were generated with edge joints. The position
and spac- ing of materials at each joint specifies the desired fold angle hence positioned
accord- ingly. In such case, folding accuracy can be monitored with the help of code
producing custom angle joints and accommodation of date from calibration test. After
the digital model was sent to be printed, physical model was immersed in water. The
transformation process occurred within certain time with the final desired model having
edges aligned perfectly aligned with neighboring edges. With this technique, a two
dimensional poly- hedral shape was folded and self-transformed into precise three
dimensional structure.
Figure 18. Self-Folding Truncated Octahedron (Self-Assembly Lab, 2016)
The advantage of this process includes efficiencies of printing flat shape with quick
print- ing time and minimal resources used. If the final model were to be printed
directly, it would have taken longer time consuming more support materials. On the
long run, this technology can be effective for logistics operation where flat surface
material can be cre- ated, shipped and self-transformed into three dimensional structure
when required. (Self- Assembly Lab, 2016)
Curved surface folding mechanism is based upon a technique called curved-crease ori-
gami, where two dimensional flat sheets are folded along curved creases forming double
curved surface with mountain and valley shaped linear pattern. (Figuring, 2016) This
mechanism can be further explained with the example of concentric circles made of ex-
panding polymers separated by rigid or less expanding polymer. The position of
expand- ing polymer above or below rigid polymer in each circle with the ring being
neutral, cre- ates mountain and valley folds. When the design print is placed in water,
after certain time period, the structure transforms itself from two dimensional crease to
doubly curved structure. (Erik Demaine, 2016)
Figure 19. Curved-Crease Origami (Self-Assembly Lab, 2016)
Surface Curling
Rather than joints, edger or curve crease folding, similar mechanism can be applied to
perform surface curling. With the gradient of material deposition, continuous surface
can be achieved. Instead of using expanding material only in the joints or folding
section, larger expanding polymer can be used with thin surface in order to have even
expansion force. The curling effect is much more visible with increasing length and
breadth of sur- face. Placing expanding material over the top of rigid material gives
curved surface with smaller radius towards the rigid surface, similarly placing
expanding material below the rigid material results reverse effect. Since there are not
any joints and discs for folding process, the quantity of the material distribution and
positioning is extremely important for maximum precision. (Thomas A. Campbell,
2014)
4D printing example: Orchid transformation when
immersed in wa- ter
A team of scientists at Wyss Institute at Harvard University and the Harvard John A.
Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has developed their
micro- scale three dimensional printing technology to create transformable structure.
This method was inspired by natural structures like plants, which reacts and changes
their be- havior over time according to external environmental stimuli such as water,
heat and moisture. In order to process the technology, the team developed 4D printed
hydrogel composite structure that changes its shape upon immersion in water as shown
in Figure
20. Newly developed hydrogel composite consists of cellulose fibrils derived from
wood and their microstructure are similar to the plants that enables shape changes. In
general, when the three dimensional composite structure is immersed in water, it swells
into cer- tain pattern as programmed. (WYSS Institute, 2016)
Hydrogel cellulose fibril has anisotropic nature which means upon exposed to water, it
undergoes different swelling behavior which can be predicted and controlled. To
achieve transformable shapes, hydrogel composite needs to be programmed with precise
and swelling behavior.
The composite material is liquid state matter that flows through print head and solidifies
rapidly once it is printed. Different hydrogel components can be used to achieve
different stimuli-responsive characteristics. Conductive fillers, cellulose fillers can be
replaced with other anisotropic fillers. This advancement in 4D printing field enables
shape changes from the available materials with potential application, establishing new
platform for self-assembling structure.
Figure 20. Transformation of 4D printed orchid and Smart Valve (WYSS Institute, 2016) (Shannon E.
Bakarich, 2015)
4D printing technology has the potential to change the current business environment.
Fu- ture advancement of this mechanism depends and remains focused on variety of
capabil- ities. For example, current process that allows 4D printed structure to expand
when ex- posed to water and when structure is allowed to dry, it tends to unfold and
regain its original shape. However, when similar process is repeated again and again,
the material degrades over time and process is not infinitely repeatable. To control
directionality and reversibility process, further research and development need to be
conducted. This devel- opment points towards changing future of education and science.
With the study of exist- ing self-changing structures and models, new experiment with
new material properties and functional behaviors can be tested.
Medical Research
University of Michigan developed a 3D printed stint that gets absorbed into the body
over time. For the patient with weak cartilage in walls of bronchial tubes, the stint was
used to open airways for two or three years, which is enough time for bronchial
cartilage to form back to the shape. This biomedical splint which was printed using 3D
printing technology changes shape and conform over time as the body moves or grows.
There has been suc- cessful implants of those 4D printed structure, which needs to be
biocompatible with pa- tient’s immune system and able to adapt the external
surrounding tissues within the body.
The process started with virtual model of trachea through CT scan of patient and design-
ing model of virtual stint with medical imaging software called Mimics.
Polycaprolactone (PCL), a biomaterial was used to print the stint with the help of
Formiga P100 3D printer. (Mearian, 2016)
Most likely, upcoming future of 4D printing technology will include all types of
implants and reconstructive surgery. Beyond helping patients with respiratory issues,
researchers are exploring their use to correct human skeletal deformation such as facial
reconstruc- tion, rebuilding ears.
MIT Research Scientist Skylar Tibbits and Emerging Technology and Concept team
from Airbus collaborated together to develop special air inlet component. This
collaboration with Airbus developed new air inlet which adjusts automatically to control
air flow which is used to cool the engine. As the current air ventilation inlets are static
and air flow varies with speed of an airplane. (Group A. , 2016)
Designing roots requires ability to develop responsive and highly sensitive parts. 4D
printing will allow those machineries far more advanced adaptive and dynamic ability
to perform complex task effectively.
A team of researchers at MIT and Harvard University developed origami robots, which
is reconfigurable robots capable of folding themselves into arbitrary shapes and
crawling away. The prototype robot was made up of printable parts entirely. (Hardesty,
2014)
Military applications
Programmable matter will have a vast application areas in military sector. US army and
Navy are developing three dimensional printed spare parts in the field and developing
programmable elements that forms into full building with all the necessary components
such as electricity, plumbing and other technical structures. (Laskar, 2017)
As the technology allows the materials to change its shape, military equipment, cars and
fabrics could enable them to alter its camouflage. Military advancements with 4D
printing technology would develop coating material in automobile that changes its
structure to cope with humid environment and corrosion. Similarly, transformation of
tires depending upon road and weather condition.
People are much more familiar with IKEA furniture which comes in parts and packed. It
takes lots of time and effort for normal customer to assemble and make ready. However,
one could imagine the relief when those flat packaged furniture self assembles and the
furniture is ready to use without any hassle. Similarly, self-disassembling of furniture
while moving from one location is comforting. Along with the time saving, it could help
people get rid of complex assembling process and mistakes.
Fashion
The idea of clothes and trainers adjusting their shape and function in response to
external environment and comforting the user, sounds fascinating. Fitting perfectly upon
pressure being applied or gears becoming water proof itself when raining.
Experiments involving 4D printing have been few and limited to the date as there are
only few major players actively in the field of research. Nevertheless, this technology
has been taken seriously because of its constructive and disruptive capability. As the
incoming of
wide ranges of technologies, new programmable materials, software and design tools,
4D printing mechanism certainly has the potential to become magical and opening new
pos- sibilities that were assumed science fiction and seen only in movies.
These technology can be formulated into action for manufacturing and construction idea
at extremely large scale and complex environments. Printing small materials and trans-
forming into gigantic shapes in extreme locations such as radiation zone, deep trench,
space, war zone. Building materials that are capable of adjusting fluctuating
environment, self-healing, maximum shock absorption and mediating moisture, sound,
pressure, tem- perature varying the thickness.
Any emerging technology brings changes both positive and negative. Despite carrying
profound implications for construction, industry, military and medical field, the benefits
of 3D and 4D printing technology remain offset by many technical and legal challenges.
There are concerned areas need to be addressed including design certification and stand-
ardization, environmental friendly and sustainable development, patenting and intellec-
tual property law. Since the processes involved in both technologies are very much
simi- lar, certain rules and regulations while adopting these technologies remains
considerably identical. Along with the benefits, risks including ethical implications,
public safety and intellectual property rights need to be handled properly. (Al-Rodhan,
2014)
A SWOT analysis is carried out for any company, person or product. This process in-
volves specifying objective of any project identifying internal and external factor that
are suitable and unsuitable to achieve project goal. Similarly for 3D printing technology,
SWOT analysis as shown in Table 3 specifies internal positive and negative factors as
well as external positive and negative factors.
Table 1. SWOT analysis of 3D printing
Efficiency of material and manufacturing pro- New technology in the field of 3D printing
cess Expensive smart material and limited
Positive market growth forecast Expensive hardware (printer) that may restrict
Multi-color print public from using it
The market has been analyzed on the basis of printer, software, process, application and
geographical location. With the industrial field expecting to take more credits on
adopting 3D printing technology, aerospace, defense, health care and consumer
products are ac- counted to hold major share of 3D printing. In 2015, global 3D printing
market value was about USD 4.98 billion and North America dominating the market
followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. The driving force behind the market growth are
supposed to be the benefits of 3D printing, customized goods and government/private
investment. (Marketsandmarkets, 2016)
Stratasys Ltd., is one the leading global provider of 3D printing solutions. Some other
major companies are 3D systems Corporation (US), Arcam AB (Sweden), EnvisionTEC
GmbH (Germany), Autodesk, Inc. (US), Voxeljet AG (Germany) and Concept Laser
GmbH (Germany). (Marketsandmarkets, 2016)
Upon analyzing the trends in 4D printing market on the basis of programmable matter,
end user industry and future scope, 4D printing market is expected to be
commercialized by 2019. As the printing technology is in its initial developing phase,
the global market is expected to grow with compound annual growth of 42.5% between
2019 and 2025 reaching USD 537.8 million as shown in Figure 22. As North America
expected to hold the majority market size, market development will be driven by the
necessity to reduce manufacturing cost, logistic problems and secure sustainable
development. Similar to 3D printing technology, 4D printing industry will have major
impact into aerospace, military and defense, healthcare, automotive, clothing and
construction sector. (Marketsandmarkets, 2016)
Figure 22. Graph showing 4D printing market (Marketsandmarkets, 2016)
Current key players in 4D printing industry are Stratasys Ltd. (US), Autodesk, inc.
(US), HP Corp. (US), ExOne Co. (US), Dassault Systemes SA (France).
(Marketsandmarkets, 2016)
Comparing desktop 3D Printers versus 4D Printer
The following Table 5 shows the comparison between available 3D printers. The brand
of printer has been chosen randomly from the website of developer. The table section
represents brand of printer, type, build, thickness, speed, filament diameter, price and
rating respectively. Based upon user review regarding print quality, ease of use, reliabil-
ity, failure rate, customer service, price and software, rating of each device is listed at
the end of row. Rating 10 being top product to rating 1 as the least performing product,
there are few missing information about printing speed. The main reason of comparing
differ- ent printers is to specify printer types along the technology they rely, analyzing
the print- ing quality and speed as well the price of the printer in the market. This
provides better visual specification for individual choose suitable and effective printer.
Table 3. Comparing 3D printers and 4D printer (3Dhubs, 2017) (Aniwaa, 2014), (Stratasys, Overview:
Objet260 Connex3 Color and multi-material 3D printing, 2014)
Table 6 shows the rating out of 10, (10 being maximum score and 1 minimum score),
comparing strength, weakness, opportunity and threat level for both printing
technologies from Table 2 and Table 3.
3D printing 9 7 8 7 7.75
4D printing 7 6 9 7 7.25
Objet260 Connex3 from Stratasys, is polyjet type multi-material color 3D printer. Since
Skylar Tibbits' 4D printing project was enabled by Connex multi-material 3D printing
technology, (Stratasys, 4D Printing, 2014) this printer is listed as 4D printer in the com-
parison chart. The price for this industrial printer ranges from 100,000 – 250,000 USD
with maximum build size 255*252*200 cubic centimeter. (Aniwaa, 2014)
Similarly upon comparing 3D printing market size and 4D printing market size, the
mar- ket growth of 3D printing industry has compound annual growth (CAGR) of
28.5%, while similar growth rate of 4D printing industry increased with 42.5 %. This
annual growth result shows scope of 4D printing market that includes programmable
carbon fiber, pro- grammable textiles, woods and grains.
The following graph depicts the market size and growth of 3D printing industry versus
4D printing industry. All the values have been imported from Figure 21 & Figure 22.
Figure 23. Line chart for 3D & 4D printing market. (Marketsandmarkets, 2016)
Looking through the above graph, the blue line clearly outsizes orange line. The blue
line represents the market size of 3D printing industry and orange line represents 4D
printing industry. Comparing those graphs, 3D printing industry has huge market size
reaching up to astonishing 30.19 billion USD by 2022. However, 4D printing industry is
also growing and predicted to be inside industrial market by 2019 and market size will
be close to 537 million USD by 2025.
4 DISCUSSIONS
Safety
Fully functional guns and weapons can be printed with the help of 3D printer. The first
3D printed gun was developed and successfully fired by the group called Defense Dis-
tributed. (Morelle, 2013) It is absolutely incredible but concerning as well. These 3D
printed weapons can easily fall into hands of criminals, children, mentally ill person and
convicts which will arise the question regarding public safety and security problems.
Health risk related to 3D printed food, printing of human body parts that could impose
health risks but also ethical issues concerning testing of those products.
Intellectual Property
Programmable matters or Smart matters brings special concern regarding patenting and
intellectual property law. Responsibility debate arises particularly over artificial intelli-
gence and robotics. The key players inside these technologies are manufacturer,
program- mer, material developer and user. For instance, if any 3D or 4D printed parts
fails causing huge loss, which party takes the responsibility? Those concerns need to be
integrated into regulatory guidelines and standards. (Thomas A. Campbell, 2014)
Resources
Before processing any task, it is essential to primarily secure enough resources. Most of
the 3D printing companies recommend to use their own genuine product and their avail-
ability is limited in the market. Also the compatibility of material hinders choosing ran-
dom product. It is essential to develop mechanism with global standard with materials
available globally. The lack of resources causes potential slowdown in research and
short- age of supply.
Material Selection
Not all materials are smart materials with the feature of shape changing capabilities. In
order to reach its full potential, 4D printing process needs to be able to print nano scale
models to mega structures that can undergo more complex transformation. The structure
should have ability to change its shape repeatedly and reversing back to its original
form. Continuous repetition of transformation degrades the functioning quality of
material. Those issues questions about potential problem with long term durability of
smart mate- rials. The smart materials or objects required or created during 4D printing
process are made up of multi-material components which are not easily available and
hard to dupli- cate at home. (Tibbits, 2016)
What separates 4D Printing Technology from 3D
Printing Technology?
Considering how quickly 3D printing technology prototypes the model and eventually
can be used in mass production, this technology is surely a next big thing in the field of
manufacturing. But the expansion of this technology even further leads to 4D printing.
As explained previously, 4D printing technology involves creating objects with special
multi material components that eventually change after reacting with external properties
or sometimes on their own without external involvement. In both 3D and 4D printing
processes, additive manufacturing is involved to create new product. The only
difference is the time with material changing its properties. Time is the extra dimension
in 4D print- ing technology. (Services, 2016)
Time Factor
Time is an element for extra dimension in 3D printing that makes 4D printing. In order
to get final structure, it takes time to transform from initial shape. 3D printed object also
requires some time in order to heal or cooling time. However, 4D printed parts starts
acting only after exposed to external energy. In general, 3D printed parts are ready to
use after printed whereas, 4D printed parts are not completely ready for its motive even
after print in done.
Material
The most common materials used by 3D printer are Nylon, ABS plastic, Resin, Wax
and Polycarbonate. These traditional materials are easily available in the market, hence
print- ing using these materials are easy. However, 4D printing technology uses Smart
materi- als. Smart materials are multi-materials with one or more properties that can
undergo transformation in controlled fashion by external energy. Usually Smart material
are pie- zoelectric, electrostictive, magnetostrictive, thermoelectric and shape memory
alloys.
Shape memory alloys are strong, hard, tough, very good conductivity but expensive.
Cu- Al-Ni alloy, Ni-Ti alloy, Cu-Au-Zn alloy are few list of smart metal alloys. Here,
Cu refers to Copper, Al is Aluminum, Ni is Nickel, Ti is Titanium, Au is Gold and Zn
refers Zinc metal.
Hardware
After material selection, hardware has the key role in printing process. Depending upon
technology and requirement, there are various 3D printing machines available in the
mar- ket both for home use and production. Form 1+ printer, which is based on
Stereolithog- raphy process and Mojo from Stratays operates using Fused Deposition
Molding tech- nique. Current 3D printers are capable of processing single material.
Stratasys' Connex multi-material 3D printer has added capability of embedded
transformation from one structure to another. This multi material processing technology
allows researchers to map multiple material properties into single structure carrying
features of parent material with water absorbing properties to activate self-assembly
process. Water acting as external activating factor, this technique promises broad
possibilities for embedding programma- bility for non-electronic based design.
Similarly, RoVa4D Full color Blender 3D printer from ORD solutions, (solutions,
2016)allows affordable full-color multi material desktop printing.
Software
Need to say that current software tools are behind hardware capabilities. The new ad-
vancement in the field of printing industry has forced researchers and engineers to de-
velop new types of software tools with capabilities that go beyond CAD, CAM, Solid-
works or other modeling software. With the emerging new idea such as bio-printing,
multi material printing, 4D printing and electronics printing, there is a demand of
software which can incorporate all those processes.
Project Cyborg from Autodesk, (Research, 2016) CANVAS software from Mosaic
Man- ufacturing, (Manufacturing, 2017) Foundry, from MIT's Computer Science and
Artificial
Intelligence Lab (Etherington, 2016) and Monolith multi material voxel software
(Monolith, 2017)are some of the software that makes multi-material 3D printing easier.
The complexities are growing with the need to control smart material and stimulate dep-
osition of programmed matter for precise transformation. 4D printing requires further
ad- vancement modeling software than the one used for 3D printing.
Product designs in industrial sector are constrained by limitations of the machines. Alt-
hough the process inside production facility is faster and quicker in comparison to 3D or
4D printing technology. However, 3D printing technology has capability to create com-
plex shape design with a small change in code and allow designers to carry the best part
without any huge change. Design freedom with the ability to shape lift physical object
from one shape to another leads a step beyond static 3D object. As 3D printing allows
material selection process efficiently by selecting the place where it is needed. Selective
material placement helps saving excess use of material reducing weight such as creating
bone like structures. And with the added dynamics and performance capabilities of ma-
terial itself 4D printing guides the part to adapt their structure as per the external stimu-
lation.
Simple Manufacturing
The products are directly built from standardized digital file and all the computer con-
trolled processes helps reducing time for expertise as well as human interaction required
to create object. While the object is being printed, the process often remains
unmonitored allowing objects to be built overnight without human interference. Similar
to the process, 4D printing processes are becoming even simpler than 3D printing
technology. Simple looking structure can be printed and then with the help of external
activating agent, it can transform into complex, large functional structure. Furthermore,
self-assembly structure senses and reacts physically with the surrounding environment
itself without any human involvement.
Mass production and customization
The concept of the products design can be designed and printed anywhere in the world
with 3D printer and materials. The Internet bridges and eliminates any gap between the
distances to move the digital file within the world. Instead of carrying products
increasing logistics cost, design files can be sent immediately from one pole of the earth
to another pole and can be printed exactly the same 3D object.
The large piece of final product such as building structure or vehicles can be produced
with 3D printing technology in a single process eliminating the cost and time of assem-
bling hundreds of parts produced from traditional manufacturing process. The parts are
usually assembled and shipped from various parts of the world that may possibly have
been manufactured from external suppliers. This technology eliminates supply chain
and assembly line thereby increasing productivity. (Thomas A. Campbell, 2014)
With the improved material properties and effective design prototypes, 3D printing in-
dustry has evolved from basic testing idea to fully functional testing of fabricated parts.
Creating tooling for molding and casting and finally end user part. Moreover, those end
user part created and embedded with dynamic features will inherently boost innovation.
Design and fabrication of smart products will dominate production industry enabling us-
ers to taste new development that is beyond what exists today.
Engineers and developers will no longer be limited to their design limitation due to
exist- ing traditional technology. Elimination of limitation will enhance boosting
innovations and disruptive industries along with other application areas will be
profound.
The rise of 3D printing and 4D printing is likely to change the field of manufacturing
industry. Reinvention of many old products and customization of products into individ-
ual’s choice will change the consumers’ interest over traditional printing process. The
representation of physical object with digital file fuels rapid global distribution of prod-
ucts transforming the whole product distribution sector. The very long producer and
con- sumer relationship in industrial production methods including ongoing direct
relationship between software engineers and new products has increased interest in the
field of pro- duction design. Any researchers, engineers and students can imagine the
level of multi- functional, multi-material components and then advanced material
programming leading into the era of next generation material processing technology. An
entirely new field of smart material engineers and material processing researchers may
emerge offering current generation entirely different intelligent and smart physical
models. Even though it’s still too early to predict, but if the current development
continues in such a way that we expect it into, a perfect 4D printing technology will
show the world a massive shift in the way objects and structures are designed and
manufactured. (Matthews, 2016)
5 CONCLUSION
The actual technology resides upon existing contributions over the years. 3D printing
technology has been around the field for more than 30 years. From Charles (Chuck)
hull's first Stereolithography apparatus (SLA) machine in 1983 to Skylar Tibbits from
the MIT self-assembly lab proves the consistent research and contribution on material
processing technology over the years. (Industry 3. P., History of 3D Printing, 2016)
There has been vast developments in existing 3D printing process with multi-material
printing capabili- ties. With the introduction of 4D printing, the technology will take
over wide range of application such as home appliances and consumer goods that can
adapt to heat and mois- ture for added comfort and functionality. Pre-programmed self-
deforming materials in health care sector including biocompatible implants inside
human body such as cardia tubes will certainly bring revolution in medical research.
The introduction of many new companies and competition, quality of the printing has
improved surprisingly and price becoming cheaper. The result of priorities and personal
choice are forcing developers to work much harder as there are lots of room for
improvement. In coming years, it is most likely that those printers will become
increasingly available with very low price.
6 REFERENCES