we've all heard the buzz surrounding 3d printing- some call it the 3rd or '3d industrial revolution'. but what exactly is 3d printing? and how bigof an impact will it have on our future? the concept is quite simple: much your likeprinter prints ink on a page, 3d printers spit out material - whether it be plastic,metal, or even concrete- to form a 3 dimensional object. but instead of printing one layer,as ink from a normal printer does, multiple
3d printing effect on manufacturing, layers are stacked upon each other to createcomplex 3d structures. think of it like making sliced bread, but in reverse! after puttingone layer down, another is built on top of that, and so on, until the whole loaf of breadis put together! lost or broke something that you can no longerbuy? simple - create or download the design
online, and 3d-print it out! have a specificor personal holiday present idea and can't find it? print it! in fact, ge's tumblr '3dprintmygift.tumblr.com'is doing exactly this for the holiday season - we'll put a link in the description. andif you require moving parts in your design, the printer simply leave gaps in the rightspots, or uses a special gel that can be dissolved or rinsed off afterwards. speaking of design, 3d printing paves thewave for incredibly customized objects, made on demand to fit your requirements. not onlydoes this mean furniture, shoes and appliances built to fit your lifestyle, but things likeprosthetic limbs can have completely customized user designs, as opposed to generic mass producedproducts.
need something small and intricate? typical3d printers create layers approximately 100 micrometers thick, but some high-end machinescan print as small as 16 micrometers. to put this in perspective, a typical bacteria cellhas a width of between 1-10 micrometers. this has opened the doors to using molecules forink, and has lead to successful 3d-printed pharmaceutical drugs, such as ibuprofen (check).the tiny molecules are organized perfectly to create the desired drug effect. hungry? in the future, you might be able toask siri to 3d-print a meal, perfected for your palette. but, perhaps the most significant applicationis creating 3d structures out of living cells
- or bio-ink. instead of using plastic ormetal, imagine 3d printing tissue to replace damaged skin, or to reproduce entire organsfrom scratch. instead of needing an organ donor, you just print one based off of yourgenetics. amazingly, this technology is already being developed. for burns or scrapes, a scanneris used on a patient's wound, and a personalized skin map is created. after this, the printerlays down cells one layer at a time, until the area is covered. organs are much more complex due to theirlarge size, vascular networks, and interactions with the body. a scanner takes x-ray imagesof, say, a patient's kidney, as cross sections with incredibly intricate detail. and justlike any other object, these organs are reproduced
layer by layer, specifically designed foreach individual. though these are years away from being functional, it will certainly havea huge impact on the medical community. so while it may be a while before you endup with a 3d printer in your home, you can be sure that by the time it happens, the worldwill be a different place. but if you can't wait that long, ge is giving3d printing it's own holiday this december 3rd - it's 'd3 for 3d'! to celebrate, they're3d-printing and giving away customized gifts
for their fans all day. all you have to dois visit 3dprintmygift.tumblr.com to choose one of the prototypes and tweet for a chanceto get one printed and shipped to your home in time for the holidays! go check it out!
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