High-Throughput 3D Printing of Customized Imaging Lenses

Author(s):  
Xiangfan Chen ◽  
Wenzhong Liu ◽  
Biqin Dong ◽  
Henry Oliver T. Ware ◽  
Hao F. Zhang ◽  
...  

The emerging 3D printing technology has the potential to transform manufacturing customized optical elements, which currently heavily relies on the time-consuming and costly polishing and grinding processes. However, the inherent speed-accuracy trade-off seriously constraints the practical applications of 3D printing technology in optical realm. In addressing this issue, here, we report a new method featuring a significantly faster fabrication speed, at 24.54 mm3/h, without compromising the fabrication accuracy or surface finish required to 3D-print customized optical components. We demonstrated a high-speed 3D printing process with deep subwavelength (sub-10 nm) surface roughness by employing the projection micro-stereolithography process and the synergistic effects from the grayscale photopolymerization and the meniscus equilibrium post-curing methods. Fabricating a customized aspheric lens with 5 mm in height and 3 mm in diameter could be accomplished in less than four hours. The 3D-printed singlet aspheric lens demonstrated a maximal imaging resolution of 2.19 μm with low field distortion less than 0.13% across a 2-mm field of view. This work demonstrates the potential of 3D printing for rapid manufacturing of optical components.

Micromachines ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Han Zhang ◽  
Long Huang ◽  
Mingyue Tan ◽  
Shaoqing Zhao ◽  
Hua Liu ◽  
...  

Not satisfied with the current stage of the extensive research on 3D printing technology for polymers and metals, researchers are searching for more innovative 3D printing technologies for glass fabrication in what has become the latest trend of interest. The traditional glass manufacturing process requires complex high-temperature melting and casting processes, which presents a great challenge to the fabrication of arbitrarily complex glass devices. The emergence of 3D printing technology provides a good solution. This paper reviews the recent advances in glass 3D printing, describes the history and development of related technologies, and lists popular applications of 3D printing for glass preparation. This review compares the advantages and disadvantages of various processing methods, summarizes the problems encountered in the process of technology application, and proposes the corresponding solutions to select the most appropriate preparation method in practical applications. The application of additive manufacturing in glass fabrication is in its infancy but has great potential. Based on this view, the methods for glass preparation with 3D printing technology are expected to achieve both high-speed and high-precision fabrication.


Author(s):  
Norman Gwangwava ◽  
Catherine Hlahla

Using 3D printing technology in learning institutions brings an industrial experience to learners as well as an exposure to the same cutting-edge technologies encountered in real life careers. The chapter explores 3D printing technology at kindergarten (preschool), in the lecture room (BEng programme), and ready-to-use 3D printed products. In educational toy applications, the effect of poor product designs that do not meet the children's dimensional and safety requirements can lead to injuries, development of musculoskeletal disorders and health problems, some of which may be experienced by the children when they grow up. In order to address the problem of poor design, measurements of anthropometric dimensions from male and female children, aging from 6 to 7 years old were taken and concepts for educational toys were then generated. Other practical applications of the 3D printing technology explored in the chapter are lecture room demonstrations, prototyping of design projects and a web-based mass-customization of office mini-storage products.


2014 ◽  
Vol 543-547 ◽  
pp. 130-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ju Mei Ai ◽  
Ping Du

3D printing is a new technology of computer science, is an important topic in the field of academic discussion, is still in the primary stage of 3D printing technology in China, the application is not widespread, so scholars have discussed a lot of work to do. This paper introduces the 3D printing technology international and domestic development situation, the working principle, the printing process and technology, proposed the application bottleneck 3D printing technology is to manufacture, printing materials therefore, electroactive materials developed for 3D printing will become an important direction of future research of 3D print.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Woodson ◽  
Nataliia Telendii ◽  
Robert Tolliver

3D printers are hailed as the next revolutionary technology, yet few scholars have studied whether 3D printing will decrease poverty and inequality. This paper determines the availability and accessibility of 3D printing technology in low-income communities through public libraries and gives insights on how libraries use 3D printers. By examining the 2013 Digital Inclusion Survey and conducting interviews, we found that libraries are quickly acquiring 3D printers; however, the technology is not being fully adopted by the patrons due to the lack of training, software and practical applications of the technology. Also, we found out that the cost to use a 3D printer in public libraries is relatively low, and does not prevent patrons from accessing the technology. Overall, we believe that libraries will only play a small role in providing availability and accessibility to 3D printing technology for marginalized communities.


Author(s):  
Norman Gwangwava ◽  
Catherine Hlahla

Using 3D printing technology in learning institutions brings an industrial experience to learners as well as an exposure to the same cutting-edge technologies encountered in real-life careers. The chapter explores 3D printing technology at kindergarten (preschool), in the lecture room (BEng program), and ready-to-use 3D printed products. In educational toy applications, the effect of poor product designs that do not meet the children's dimensional and safety requirements can lead to injuries, development of musculoskeletal disorders, and health problems, some of which may be experienced by the children when they grow up. In order to address the problem of poor design, measurements of anthropometric dimensions from male and female children, aging from 6 to 7 years old, were taken, and concepts for educational toys were then generated. Other practical applications of the 3D printing technology explored in the chapter are lecture room demonstrations, prototyping of design projects, and a web-based mass-customization of office mini-storage products.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guan-Hua Li ◽  
Yi-Ze Wang ◽  
Yue-Sheng Wang

Abstract Propagation of elastic waves along a direction has special interests in practical applications. These concerns generate the design of an elastic wave metamaterial with electrically switchable properties, which is studied in this work. The structure contains a T-shaped waveguide in a plate with the 3D printing technology; and the active control system is used to tune the propagation direction of the flexural wave. The piezoelectric patches which are connected by the negative capacitance circuits are applied to behave as the active control system. The finite element simulation is performed to give the theoretical prediction of the switchable waveguide and the tunable equivalent parameters are achieved by the electrical circuits. The active control experiments are finally carried out to support the numerical design.


Author(s):  
Micheal Omotayo Alabi

This article describes how 3D printing technology, also referred to as additive manufacturing (AM), is a process of creating a physical object from 3-dimensional digital model layers upon layers. 3D printing technologies have been identified as an emerging technology of the 21st century and are becoming popular around the world with a wide variety of potential application areas such as healthcare, automotive, aerospace, manufacturing, etc. Big Data is a large amount of imprecise data in a variety of formats which is generated from different sources with high-speed. Recently, Big Data and 3D printing technologies is a new research area and have been identified as types of technologies that will launch the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). As Big Data and 3D printing technology is wide spreading across different sectors in the era of industry 4.0, the healthcare sector is not left out of the vast development in this field; for instance, the Big Data and 3D printing technologies providing needed tools to support healthcare systems to accumulate, manage, analyse large volume of data, early disease detection, 3D printed medical implant, 3D printed customized titanium prosthetic, etc. Therefore, this article presents the recent trends in 3D printing technologies, Big Data and Industry 4.0; including the benefits and the application areas of these technologies. Emerging and near future application areas of 3D printing, and possible future research areas in 3D printing and Big Data technologies as relating to industry 4.0.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hirpa G. Lemu ◽  
Ove Mikkelsen

This article is based on a project run in 2018 and 2019 entitled “Educating Mechanical Engineering using 3D Printing – Under3DP”. The project was funded by Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger (UiS). The project is motivated by the current developments of the 3D printing technology in diverse disciplines whose initial inception was for rapid prototyping that can transform 3D models in computers to physical objects that the designer and/or the customer can touch, feel and better comprehend. Being one of the enablers of the digital transformations in manufacturing, the 3D printing technology is the fastest growing technologies and it is bringing more and more significant impacts to the manufacturing sector, healthcare, daily life, and the global economy. The pedagogical benefit of the project was evaluated using questionnaire based survey after the students of a course in Product Development and 3D Modelling have executed a mandatory group exercise to make 3D models of 3D printed samples and 3D print some of their 3D model ideas. According to the assessment results, more than 80% of the students who participated in the assessment responded that use of 3D fabricated parts in product design tasks have contributed to better understanding of the task and 3D printing has supported the learning process.


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