Printen in 3D mogelijk over enkele jaren?

Er zijn mensen die geloven dat in de toekomst iedereen thuis een 3D printer zal bezitten. Huidige 3D printers die gebruikt worden door ontwerpers om snel een model c.q. prototype van hun product te krijgen kosten nu ongeveer 70.000 gulden, en kunnen maar met 1 materiaal omgaan. Rik Knoppers van het TNO meent dat mede door een recente doorbraak in de techniek (3D kleurenprinten) 3D printers die meerdere materialen combineren niet meer ver weg zijn.

Stephen Danforth is in Amerika met een soortgelijk project bezig. Hij is van mening dat als het goed aangepakt wordt binnen enkele jaren 3D printers op de markt kunnen zijn voor zo'n 2500 gulden per stuk:

But the technique most likely to be first into your local electronics store is 3D ink-jet printing. The familiar 2D version deposits ink, but the 3D ink-jet lays down droplets of hot, liquid plastic. The plastic hardens as it cools, building the desired pattern layer by layer. An alternative ink-jet technique, developed in 1989 by Emanuel Sachs and Michael Cima at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, combines sintering, gluing and droplet technologies: it sprays fine droplets of glue onto specific points on a powder bed, which sticks the powder together in the right places (click on thumbnail below for Diagram). Then another layer of powder is deposited, rolled flat and glued: the finished product emerges when the layers are complete and the unglued powder--which provides support while the structure is growing--is blown away.

[...] Printing techniques such as laser deposition can not only provide instant spare parts. They can also make them stronger than the cast or forged originals, because the printer can carefully arrange the microstructure of the metal. The product can be lighter, too. Computer programs could minimise the weight of an axle, for example, by working out exactly where the metal ought to go. This optimum design may turn out to have a fiendishly complex internal structure that's hard to make by conventional means. With 3D printing that limitation disappears. "Geometric complexity is largely irrelevant," Danforth says. "You can design the internal and external geometry of a part, and its electrical, mechanical and thermal properties exactly how you want them to be."

[...] What's needed for this to happen is a "killer application"--one that will turn 3D printers into something that everyone wants to buy. When asked to predict what that will be, the experts all turn into a kid's best friend. Never mind the huge implications for high-tech industry, 3D printing is being hailed by many as the "Santa Claus machine". "Toy manufacturers will put their file of Mickey Mouse on the Internet and people will simply pay to download it," says Chris Ryall of Warwick University.

Lees het hele artikel hier.