网易100天---40、3D Printer Applications

3D Printer Applications
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Passage 1
工业用途
A Look at the 3D Printing Industry
From Business News Daily · 306 words · 3 mins
Manufacturing plays an essential role in the lives of many entrepreneurs and small business owners. As technology continues to improve, new methods of manufacturing continue to emerge. Among these relatively new methods is 3D printing, and its widespread use in manufacturing has grown in recent years.

Just because 3D printing is an exciting way to manufacture doesn’t mean it makes sense for your business. There are still issues regarding cost and speed. In addition to the drawbacks, rumors constantly pop up discussing “the next big thing” in 3D printing. A quick Google search yields clickbait headlines talking about the best new inventions brought about by 3D printing, but many of these are years away from actually coming to the market. With a lot of misinformation surrounding the future of 3D printing, we turned to experts to develop a clearer picture of how 3D printing can help your business and determine what the future of 3D printing holds.

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One of the oldest uses for 3D printers is the quick and efficient creation of prototypes. Since the printers were invented in 1983, companies have employed 3D printing to create a workable model of their desired end product, either to test the concept or present it to future investors. “Before we called it 3D printing, it was called rapid prototyping,” Greg Paulsen, director of applications engineering for third-party manufacturer Xometry, said. “It was seen as a way to get close enough to a functional model.”

Now that’s changing. While entrepreneurs still gladly use 3D printing for prototyping, the technology has become more accessible and adaptable, leading to new applications. “The main development I’d summarize is moving from a primarily prototyping solution, currently the killer [application] for 3D printing, to end part production,” said Filemon Schoffer, chief marketing officer at 3DHubs. “This is already happening but will continue to accelerate.”
Passage 2
医学用途
3D Printing in the Medical Field
From Medical Devices · 413 words · 4 mins
3D printing has many functions in a variety of industries, however, in the medical field it has four main applications. Allie Nawrat found out how this technology could be used to replace human organ transplants, speed up surgical procedures, produce cheaper versions of required surgical tools, and improve the lives of those reliant on prosthetic limbs. Additive manufacturing, otherwise known as 3D printing, was first developed in the 1980s. It involves taking a digital model or blueprint of the subject that is then printed in successive layers of an appropriate material to create a new version of the subject.

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The technique has been applied to (and utilized by) many different industries, including medical technology. Often medical imaging techniques, such as X-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and ultrasounds are used to produce the original digital model, which is subsequently fed into the 3D printer. It has been forecast that 3D printing in the medical field will be worth $3.5bn by 2025, compared to $713.3m in 2016. The industry’s compound annual growth rate is supposed to reach 17.7% between 2017 and 2025.

Bioprinting tissues and organoids

One of the many types of 3D printing that is used in the medical device field is bioprinting. Rather than printing using plastic or metal, bioprinters use a computer-guided pipette to layer living cells, referred to as bio-ink, on top of one another to create artificial living tissue in a laboratory. These tissue constructs or organoids can be used for medical research as they mimic organs on a miniature scale. They are also being trialled as cheaper alternatives to human organ transplants.

US-based medical laboratory and research company Organovo is experimenting with printing liver and intestinal tissue to help with the studying of organs in vitro, as well as with drug development for certain diseases. In May 2018, the company presented pre-clinical data for the functionality of its liver tissue in a programme for type 1 tyrosinemia, a condition that impedes the body’s ability to metabolise the amino acid tyrosine due to the deficiency of an enzyme.

The Wake Forest Institute in North Carolina, US, adopted a similar approach by developing a 3D brain organoid with potential applications in drug discovery and disease modelling. The university announced in May 2018 that it’s organoids have a fully cell-based, functional blood brain barrier that mimics normal human anatomy. It has also been working on 3D printing skin grafts that can be applied directly to burn victims.