Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is one of the fastest-growing additive manufacturing methods used in printing fibre-reinforced composites (FRC). The performances of the resulting printed parts are limited compared to those by other manufacturing methods due to their inherent defects. Hence, the effort to develop treatment methods to overcome these drawbacks has accelerated during the past few years. The main focus of this study is to review the impact of those defects on the mechanical performance of FRC and therefore to discuss the available treatment methods to eliminate or minimize them in order to enhance the functional properties of the printed parts. As FRC is a combination of polymer matrix material and continuous or short reinforcing fibres, this review will thoroughly discuss both thermoplastic polymers and FRCs printed via FDM technology, including the effect of printing parameters such as layer thickness, infill pattern, raster angle and fibre orientation. The most common defects on printed parts, in particular, the void formation, surface roughness and poor bonding between fibre and matrix, are explored. An inclusive discussion on the effectiveness of chemical, laser, heat and ultrasound treatments to minimize these drawbacks is provided by this review.

FDM-Based 3D Printing of Polymer and Associated Composite: A Review on Mechanical Properties, Defects and Treatments.

Stereolithography is a solid freeform technique (SFF) that was introduced in the late 1980s Although many other techniques have been developed since then, stereolithography remains one of the most powerful and versatile of all SFF techniques It has the highest fabrication accuracy and an increasing number of materials that can be processed is becoming available In this paper we discuss the characteristic features of the stereolithography technique and compare it to other SFF techniques The biomedical applications of stereolithography are reviewed, as well as the biodegradable resin materials that have been developed for use with stereolithography Finally, an overview of the application of stereolithography in preparing porous structures for tissue engineering is given

A review on stereolithography and its applications in biomedical engineering

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as three-dimensional (3D) printing, has boomed over the last 30 years, and its use has accelerated during the last 5 years AM is a materials-oriented manufacturing technology, and printing resolution versus printing scalability/speed trade-off exists among various types of materials, including polymers, metals, ceramics, glasses, and composite materials Four-dimensional (4D) printing, together with versatile transformation systems, drives researchers to achieve and utilize high dimensional AM Multiple perspectives of the AM of structural materials have been raised and illustrated in this review, including multi-material AM (MMa-AM), multi-modulus AM (MMo-AM), multi-scale AM (MSc-AM), multi-system AM (MSy-AM), multi-dimensional AM (MD-AM), and multi-function AM (MF-AM) The rapid and tremendous development of AM materials and methods offers great potential for structural applications, such as in the aerospace field, the biomedical field, electronic devices, nuclear industry, flexible and wearable devices, soft sensors, actuators, and robotics, jewelry and art decorations, land transportation, underwater devices, and porous structures

Additive manufacturing of structural materials

All-Printed Flexible and Stretchable Electronics with Pressing or Freezing Activatable Liquid-Metal–Silicone Inks

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Elsevier in Additive Manufacturing on 02/10/2021, available online: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2021.102378 
The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.

Fused Deposition Modelling: Current Status, Methodology, Applications and Future Prospects

Additive Manufacturing technology has a significant impact on the modern world because of its ability to fabricate highly complex computerized geometrics. Pure 3D-printed polymer parts have limited potential applications due to inherently inferior mechanical and anisotropic properties. For more utilization and versatility, the addition of fillers has enhanced their functionalities. 3D printing has innovative advantages including low cost, minimal wastage, customized geometry, and ease of material change. This review reveals the development of 3D printing techniques of matrix composite materials with improving properties and their applications in the fields of aerospace, automotive, biomedical, and electronics. A general introduction is given on AM techniques mainly fused deposition modeling (FDM), Powder-liquid 3D printing (PLP), selective laser sintering (SLS), stereolithography (SLA), digital light processing (DLP), and robocasting. Process methodologies and behavior of different filler additives, reinforcement fibers, nanoparticles, and ceramic polymer composites are discussed. Also, some major issues of difficulty including printing parameters, homogeneous desperation of fillers, nozzle clogging due to filler aggregation, void formation, augmented curing time, and anisotropic attributes are addressed. In the end, some capabilities and shortcomings are pointed out for further development of 3D-printing technology.

A review on 3D printed matrix polymer composites: its potential and future challenges

Recently, tissue engineering (TE) is one of the fast growing research fields due the accessibility of extra-molecular matrix (ECM) at cellular and molecular level with valuable potential prospective of hydrogels. The enhancement in the production of hydrogel-based cellular scaffolds with the structural composition of ECM has been accelerated with involvement of rapid prototyping techniques. Basically, the recreation of ECM has been derived from naturally existed or synthetic hydrogel-based polymers. The rapid utilization of hydrogels in TE puts forward the scope of bioprinting for the fabrication of the functional biological tissues, cartilage, skin and artificial organs. The main focus of the researchers is on biofabrication of the biomaterials with maintaining the biocompatibility, biodegradability and increasing growth efficiency. In this review, biological development in the structure and cross-linking connections of natural or synthetic hydrogels are discussed. The methods and design criteria that influence the chemical and mechanical properties and interaction of seeding cells before and after the implantations are also demonstrated. The methodology of bioprinting techniques along with recent development has also been reviewed. In the end, some capabilities and shortcomings are pointed out for further development of hydrogels-based scaffolds and selection of bioprinting technology depending on their application.

A review on biocompatibility nature of hydrogels with 3D printing techniques, tissue engineering application and its future prospective

Blending graphite nanoplatelets (GNPs) with polylactic acid (PLA) is a conventional approach endowing the GNPs/PLA nanocomposites with enhanced mechanical and thermal properties. Meanwhile, l-Arginine (l-Arg) has been proved to be effective GNPs modifiers, which can be used to improve the solubility and compatibility of GNPs in PLA. On the other hand, additive manufacturing offers a novel and unique way to fabricate components with complex structure and special functions, which can significantly expand the application of material in many fields. This study demonstrated the fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing l-Arg/GNPs/PLA nanocomposites with enhanced mechanical property and thermal stability in conjunction with its potential application as biomaterials. Nanocompsites were prepared by solvent-based mixing method and extruded into filaments for FDM printing. The addition of l-Arg/GNPs significantly improved the tensile and flexural strength of PLA matrix, 43.6% in tensile strength and 28.5% in flexural strength with optimal loading of 2 wt% l-Arg/GNPs. The thermal stability of l-Arg/GNPs/PLA nanocomposites gradually improved, with 60 °C increase in degradation temperature and 7% increase in remaining residual weight. Furthermore, MTT cytotoxicity assay of the 3D printed nanocomposites showed the good biocompatibility of the l-Arg/GNPs/PLA nanocomposites, which indicates the promising prospect of being applied as biomaterial in bone tissue engineering.

Jabran Saroia

Papers

A review on 3D printed matrix polymer composites: its potential and future challenges

A review on biocompatibility nature of hydrogels with 3D printing techniques, tissue engineering application and its future prospective

3D printing biocompatible l-Arg/GNPs/PLA nanocomposites with enhanced mechanical property and thermal stability