The Future of Manufacturing - Additive Manufacturing by 3D Printing

During the Internet Of Things (IOT) World Congress celebrated in Barcelona from the 16th to 18th of September. It was shown multiple of companies, projects, industries and presentations regarding the great possibilities that IOT will bring soon to the humanity. 

Figure 1_General view of the visitors emplacement in the IOT World Congress_source: J. Sánchez Ríos.


Regarding the presentations, one of those presentations were about the Future of Manufacturing.

Mr. Bejoy, from HCL Technologies, exposed the main challenges which are going to face the Manufacturing in the next years. 

In the 19th century, era marked by livelihood, food and water, the manufacturing was focused on the Mechanization of Power Generation; Engines, Generators and the Power Looms.
During the first half of 20th century, era marked by wars, famine, diseases, colonialism and human rights, the focus of manufacturing was established around the Mechanization for Labor and Material productivity, starting with the concept of Mass Production, with the development and performance of the Drives, Motors, Controllers and the Instrumentation.

During the second half of 20th century, era marked by quality of life and productivity improvement. The focus of manufacturing was established the beginning of automation, increasing the speed, the precision and the quality in the manufacturing processes.
In the 21st century, in a hyper connected world, the focus of manufacturing is based in the cyber-physical systems; Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Operation Technologies (OT), just to establish an increase of productivity and sustainability by sensors, smart devices/gateways, mobility, analytics, cloud and nano-electronics.

Figure 2_Picture of Mr. Bejoy George (HCL Technologies) at the begining of the presentation about the Future of Manufacturing_ source: J. Sánchez Ríos.

Mr. Bejoy thinks that the most significant technologies that will change the complete manufacturing processes will be in relation to some specific topics;

1. In first case, by the Sensors in Factory, the development of sensors will be able to give information about states which it was impossible before.
2. In second term, the Industrial Robots Market, with the inclusion of robotics in the digital factory and the "virtual engineering." This implementation will increase the quality of the simulation and test for the automation process of the virtual factories and then, increasing the value of the machine learning.
3. Furthermore, with the Connected Devices,  which will bring great changes in the manufacturing processes, getting in deep in what is called the digital factories. With the implementation of a Condition Monitoring System (CMS) in all the processes and products of the factories, it will be feasible to have information in real-time about everything what is involved the manufacturing process in all the manufacturing plants; from the raw material availability and cost, to the facility status, meteorological conditions, forecasting, customer behavior, etc. This implementation will optimize the processes which support the manufacturing; Inventory, packaging, maintenance, operations, Health, Safety & Environment.
4. Finally, one of the most relevant technological irruptions, and the propose of this blog, is 3D Printing technology and what is called "Additive Manufacturing."

Figure 3_View of a chemical industry plant where the automation of the complete processes is a reality for the properly production and security _source: J. Sánchez Ríos.

3D Printing Market and the additive manufacturing will create a new concept of manufacturing. The main reason is simply, for changing the production itself and making a democratization of the production and products. 3D Printing will create a mass customization and agile manufacturing, and the concept of "Bring Your own Device" (BYoD), creating the possibility to make the device on your home or small workshop.
This kind of new production concept, will bring a new consumption. In which, the customer will be the owner to create ideas, proposal and of course, the final products. 
In this context, the customers will create "the crowdsourcing of ideas", where the customer will drive the demand. With this new concept, he ideas and development of the products, not only will be given by the marketing or business development department of the companies, also or be only by the customer.

Following with the concept exposed, it is not difficult to think about the consequences in manufacturing. This will bring an important modification in the sales and customer behaviour. Nowadays, the power of the consumer decision is declining the Brand Loyalty and in consequence, declining the sales forecast accuracy, knowing that this have great consequences in the economic results of the companies. 
In future, the solutions will be in collaboration, the crowdsourced of ideas, will create alternative ways of sustainable manufacturing (e.g.: bio-manufacturing, nano-manufacturing)

Chronologically, 3D printing technology has been used by surgical planning:

• Firstly, in maxillofacial and craniofacial surgery, for the reconstruction of the skull, having more information of the situation and taking a previous study before the surgical operation.
• After this first application, Healthcare industry was made the first steps regarding soft tissues, after the patient was undergoing to a MRI (Magnetic Resonance Image) and X-ray CT (X-ray Computed Tomography).
• In case of tumors, the process is getting first a 3D printing of the zone of the tumor, getting this 3D printing with and without the tumor. With this situation, the doctor knows how is the situation, just to differentiate where there is the tumor, and where are veins and arteries, just for not damaging the patient in the process of separate the tumor of the body. The process starts with an tomographic study with a contrast agent, being possible to differentiate the organs and the vascular system. In the printing process, a head injects 3 different liquids, being one of it, such as support material for building overhangs, being easy to eliminate for the soluble of the material.

Figure 4_Example of 3D printing during the Sabadell Smart City Congress, where is reperesented kidneys, which left one has a tumor and is make by different material, used by Doctors to make a properly study and to train before the intervention_source: J. Sánchez Ríos.

Nowadays, the current trend are more related to reinforce systems and to create functionality. For that is important to think about the evolution of advanced materials, product customization and new business models.
Related to advance materials, the professionals are implementing new possibilities, and not only regarding the use of materials with different colours. The changes and possibilities are more in relation to material properties, like conductivity; thermal or electric. Just to optimize small volume production, with application in industries like aerospace and manufacturing support. 

The materials used for additive manufacturing industry are basically; 

1. ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), 
2. Polylactic acid (PLA), 
3. Polyvynil alcohol (PVA): a water-soluble synthetic polymer, 
4. Plaster: manufactured as a dry powder, 
5. Metals; steel, stainless steel, titanium, gold, silver and others like glass, ceramics, etc.

The main challenges or needs required by the customer regarding the materials applied to 3D Printing technology are related to the property of the materials. 

The most relevant property of the materials applied to 3D Printing technology are in relation to Mechanical Strength, thermal stability, weak bonds, printing speed, viscosity, settling, electric conductivity or fire retardancy. 
Regarding the functions required to improve the properties mentioned are related to the reinforcement of the material, the rheology, the color, the electric and thermal conductivity, the delivery and the reactant.

Regarding the attributes employed in the materials used, the main attribute controls are related to surface chemistry, composition, size, structure, porosity, high purity and crystallinity.

Some properties which are in investigation in additive manufacturing, are related to conductivity of the materials, achieved via percolation (the property of the materials to move particles through the polymer materials).
Furthermore, it is necessary to mention the combination of properties, just mixing materials. 
Similarly, other possibility is by the surface treatment, providing better dispersibility versus color. Depending the surface, when the particle size is smaller, is more difficult to disperse properly the pigments. 

Figure 4_Picture of a 3D printing of the company PRUSA i3 in the Eurocon Congress_source: J. Sánchez Ríos.

In 3D printing there are different technologies, but the most accessible, in economical terms, is the technique FFF (Fused Deposition Modeling), because is a technique which is now an open source technology called reprap - replicating rapid prototyper, based in the University of Bath.

REFERENCES

i. GE advanced-manufacturing
ii. Webinar R&D Magazine - 3D Printing Tech
iii. Webinar IEEE - City of Tomorrow (IOT)




J. Sánchez Ríos
javier.sanchezrios.1978@ieee.org