A critical review of initial 3D printed products responding to COVID-19 health and supply chain challenges

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly increased demand for medical and protective equipment by frontline health workers, as well as the general community, causing the supply chain to stretch beyond capacity, an issue further heightened by geographical and political lockdowns. Various 3D printing technologies were quickly utilised by businesses, institutions and individuals to manufacture a range of products on-demand, close to where they were needed. This study gathered data about 91 3D printed projects initiated prior to April 1, 2020, as the virus spread globally. It found that 60% of products were for personal protective equipment, of which 62% were 3D printed face shields. Fused filament fabrication was the most common 3D print technology used, and websites were the most popular means of centralising project information. The project data provides objective, quantitative insight balanced with qualitative critical review of the broad trends, opportunities and challenges that could be used by governments, health and medical bodies, manufacturing organisations and the 3D printing community to streamline the current response, as well as plan for future crises using a distributed, flexible manufacturing approach.

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A quantitative analysis of 3D printed face shields and masks during COVID-19

Emerald Open Research ◽

10.35241/emeraldopenres.13815.1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

pp. 42 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

James I. Novak ◽

Jennifer Loy

Keyword(s):

3D Printing ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Product Category ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Fused Filament Fabrication ◽

Community Groups ◽

3D Print ◽

The World ◽

Regulatory Bodies ◽

3D Printed

In response to shortages in personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic, makers, community groups and manufacturers around the world utilised 3D printing to fabricate items, including face shields and face masks for healthcare workers and the broader community. In reaction to both local and global needs, numerous designs emerged and were shared online. In this paper, 37 face shields and 31 face masks suitable for fused filament fabrication were analysed from a fabrication perspective, documenting factors such as filament use, time to print and geometric qualities. 3D print times for similar designs varied by several hours, meaning some designs could be produced in higher volumes. Overall, the results show that face shields were approximately twice as fast to 3D print compared to face masks and used approximately half as much filament. Additionally, a face shield typically required 1.5 parts to be 3D printed, whereas face masks required 5 3D printed parts. However, by quantifying the print times, filament use, 3D printing costs, part dimensions, number of parts and total volume of each design, the wide variations within each product category could be tracked and evaluated. This data and objective analysis will help makers, manufacturers, regulatory bodies and researchers consolidate the 3D printing response to COVID-19 and optimise the ongoing strategy to combat supply chain shortages now and in future healthcare crises.

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Integrated 3D printing solution to mitigate shortages of airway consumables and personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic

BMC Health Services Research ◽

10.1186/s12913-020-05891-2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ferran Fillat-Gomà ◽

Sergi Coderch-Navarro ◽

Laia Martínez-Carreres ◽

Núria Monill-Raya ◽

Toni Nadal-Mir ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

3D Printing ◽

Medical Devices ◽

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Medical Equipment ◽

Quality Standard ◽

Global Supply Chain ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

3D Printed ◽

Online Catalogue

Abstract Background To cope with shortages of equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, we established a nonprofit end-to-end system to identify, validate, regulate, manufacture, and distribute 3D-printed medical equipment. Here we describe the local and global impact of this system. Methods Together with critical care experts, we identified potentially lacking medical equipment and proposed solutions based on 3D printing. Validation was based on the ISO 13485 quality standard for the manufacturing of customized medical devices. We posted the design files for each device on our website together with their technical and printing specifications and created a supply chain so that hospitals from our region could request them. We analyzed the number/type of items, petitioners, manufacturers, and catalogue views. Results Among 33 devices analyzed, 26 (78·8%) were validated. Of these, 23 (88·5%) were airway consumables and 3 (11·5%) were personal protective equipment. Orders came from 19 (76%) hospitals and 6 (24%) other healthcare institutions. Peak production was reached 10 days after the catalogue was published. A total of 22,135 items were manufactured by 59 companies in 18 sectors; 19,212 items were distributed to requesting sites during the busiest days of the pandemic. Our online catalogue was also viewed by 27,861 individuals from 113 countries. Conclusions 3D printing helped mitigate shortages of medical devices due to problems in the global supply chain.

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Integrated 3D Printing Solution to Mitigate Shortages of Airway Consumables and Personal Protective Equipment During the COVID-19 Pandemic

10.21203/rs.3.rs-32570/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ferran Fillat-Gomà ◽

Sergi Coderch-Navarro ◽

Laia Martínez-Carreres ◽

Núria Monill-Raya ◽

Toni Nadal-Mir ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

3D Printing ◽

Medical Devices ◽

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Medical Equipment ◽

Quality Standard ◽

Global Supply Chain ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

3D Printed ◽

Online Catalogue

Abstract Background: To cope with shortages of equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, we established a nonprofit end-to-end system to identify, validate, regulate, manufacture, and distribute 3D-printed medical equipment. Here we describe the local and global impact of this system. Methods: Together with critical care experts, we identified potentially lacking medical equipment and proposed solutions based on 3D printing. Validation was based on the ISO 13485 quality standard for the manufacturing of customized medical devices. We posted the design files for each device on our website together with their technical and printing specifications and created a supply chain so that hospitals from our region could request them. We analyzed the number/type of items, petitioners, manufacturers, and catalogue views.Results: Among 33 devices analyzed, 26 (78·8%) were validated. Of these, 23 (88·5%) were airway consumables and 3 (11·5%) were personal protective equipment. Orders came from 19 (76%) hospitals and 6 (24%) other healthcare institutions. Peak production was reached 10 days after the catalogue was published. A total of 22,135 items were manufactured by 59 companies in 18 sectors; 19,212 items were distributed to requesting sites during the busiest days of the pandemic. Our online catalogue was also viewed by 27,861 individuals from 113 countries.Conclutions: 3D printing helped mitigate shortages of medical devices due to problems in the global supply chain.

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Fused Filament Fabrication, a New Fabrication Paradigm for 3D Printing Capacitive Sensors: Design, Fabrication, and Characterization for Liquid Level Measurements.

10.21203/rs.3.rs-875418/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gianni Stano ◽

Attilio Di Nisio ◽

Anna Maria Lanzolla ◽

Mattia Ragolia ◽

Gianluca Percoco

Keyword(s):

Additive Manufacturing ◽

3D Printing ◽

Flexible Substrate ◽

Capacitive Sensor ◽

Single Step ◽

Liquid Level ◽

Capacitive Sensors ◽

Fused Filament Fabrication ◽

3D Print ◽

3D Printed

Abstract In recent years, the exploitation of Additive Manufacturing technologies for the fabrication of different kinds of sensors has abruptly increased: in particular, a growing interest for extrusion-based techniques has emerged. This research proposes the exploitation of Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) process and two commercial materials (one flexible and one conductive) for the monolithic fabrication of a bendable, coplanar capacitive sensor. The whole sensor, consisting of a flexible substrate and two electrodes, has been fabricated in a single-step printing cycle: Design for Additive Manufacturing approach was used, setting out a methodology to direct 3D print thin and close tracks with conductive materials, in order to obtain high capacitance values measurable by common measurement instrumentations. Despite a huge exploitation of FFF technology for piezoresistive-based sensors, this manufacturing process has never been used for the fabrication of coplanar capacitive sensors since the manufacture of thin and close conductive tracks (key requirement in coplanar capacitive sensors) is a challenging task, mainly due to low manufacturability of extruded conductive beads with a high level of detail. Two versions of the sensor were developed: the first one with an embedded 3D printed coverage (ready to use) and the second one which requires a further manual post-processing to seal the electrodes. The main benefits related to the exploitation of FFF technology for these sensors are: i) the reduction of the number of different manufacturing processes employed, from at least two in traditional manufacturing approach up to one, ii) the exploitation of a cost-effective technology compared to traditional high-cost technologies employed (i.e. lithography, inkjet etc.) iii) the reduction of manual and assembly tasks (one of the proposed versions does not require any further task) , and iv) the cost-effectiveness of the sensors (in a range between 0.27 € and 0.38 €). The two developed prototypes have been tested demonstrating all their potentialities in the field of liquid level sensing, showing results consistent with the ones found in scientific literature: good sensitivity and high linearity and repeatability were proved when different liquids were employed. These 3D printed liquid level sensors have these features: i) flexible sensor, ii) the length is limited only by the machine workspace, iii) they can be either applied outside of the traditional reservoirs or embedded into the reservoirs (by 3D printing both the reservoir and sensor in the same manufacturing cycle), and iv) simple calibration.Finally, the bendability of these sensors paves the way toward their application for liquid level sensing into tanks with non-conventional shapes and for other application fields (i.e. soft robotics, non-invasive monitoring for biomedical applications).

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Integrated 3D printing solution to mitigate shortages of airway consumables and personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic

10.21203/rs.3.rs-32570/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ferran Fillat-Gomà ◽

Sergi Coderch-Navarro ◽

Laia Martínez-Carreres ◽

Núria Monill-Raya ◽

Toni Nadal-Mir ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

3D Printing ◽

Medical Devices ◽

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Medical Equipment ◽

Quality Standard ◽

Global Supply Chain ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

3D Printed ◽

Online Catalogue

Abstract Background: To cope with shortages of equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, we established a nonprofit end-to-end system to identify, validate, regulate, manufacture, and distribute 3D-printed medical equipment. Here we describe the local and global impact of this system. Methods: Together with critical care experts, we identified potentially lacking medical equipment and proposed solutions based on 3D printing. Validation was based on the ISO 13485 quality standard for the manufacturing of customized medical devices. We posted the design files for each device on our website together with their technical and printing specifications and created a supply chain so that hospitals from our region could request them. We analyzed the number/type of items, petitioners, manufacturers, and catalogue views.Results: Among 33 devices analyzed, 26 (78·8%) were validated. Of these, 23 (88·5%) were airway consumables and 3 (11·5%) were personal protective equipment. Orders came from 19 (76%) hospitals and 6 (24%) other healthcare institutions. Peak production was reached 10 days after the catalogue was published. A total of 22,135 items were manufactured by 59 companies in 18 sectors; 19,212 items were distributed to requesting sites during the busiest days of the pandemic. Our online catalogue was also viewed by 27,861 individuals from 113 countries.Conclusions: 3D printing helped mitigate shortages of medical devices due to problems in the global supply chain.

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Automated draping analysis of 3D printed flexible isogrid structures for textile applications

Textile Research Journal ◽

10.1177/00405175211006210 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 004051752110062

Author(s):

Jordan Kalman ◽

Kazem Fayazbakhsh ◽

Danielle Martin

Keyword(s):

Image Processing ◽

3D Printing ◽

Large Range ◽

Thermoplastic Polyurethane ◽

Small Scale ◽

Fused Filament Fabrication ◽

3D Print ◽

3D Printed

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing can be used for manufacturing flexible isogrid structures. This work presents a novel draping analysis of flexible 3D printed isogrids from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) using image processing. A small-scale multi-camera automated draping apparatus (ADA) is designed and used to characterize draping behavior of 3D printed isogrid structures based on draping coefficient (DC) and mode. Circular specimens are designed and 3D printed that accommodate up to eight additional weights on their perimeters to enhance draping. Five infill patterns, three infill percentages, and three loading cases are explored to evaluate their impact on specimens’ draping coefficient and mode, resulting in 45 tests. The range of DCs in this study is 21.9% to 91.5%, and a large range of draping modes is observed. For the lowest infill percentage, specimen mass is not the sole contributor to the DC values and the infill pattern has a significant impact for the three loading cases. Considering draping modes, the maximum number of convex and concave nodes observed for 25% infill specimens with added weights is three. The draping behavior characterization developed in this study can be followed to design and 3D print new flexible isogrids with textile applications.

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Integrated 3D printing solution to mitigate shortages of airway consumables and personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic

10.21203/rs.3.rs-32570/v3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Ferran Fillat-Gomà ◽

Sergi Coderch-Navarro ◽

Laia Martínez-Carreres ◽

Núria Monill-Raya ◽

Toni Nadal-Mir ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Supply Chain ◽

3D Printing ◽

Medical Devices ◽

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Medical Equipment ◽

Quality Standard ◽

Global Supply Chain ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

3D Printed ◽

Online Catalogue

Abstract Background: To cope with shortages of equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, we established a nonprofit end-to-end system to identify, validate, regulate, manufacture, and distribute 3D-printed medical equipment. Here we describe the local and global impact of this system. Methods: Together with critical care experts, we identified potentially lacking medical equipment and proposed solutions based on 3D printing. Validation was based on the ISO 13485 quality standard for the manufacturing of customized medical devices. We posted the design files for each device on our website together with their technical and printing specifications and created a supply chain so that hospitals from our region could request them. We analyzed the number/type of items, petitioners, manufacturers, and catalogue views. Results: Among 33 devices analyzed, 26 (78·8%) were validated. Of these, 23 (88·5%) were airway consumables and 3 (11·5%) were personal protective equipment. Orders came from 19 (76%) hospitals and 6 (24%) other healthcare institutions. Peak production was reached 10 days after the catalogue was published. A total of 22,135 items were manufactured by 59 companies in 18 sectors; 19,212 items were distributed to requesting sites during the busiest days of the pandemic. Our online catalogue was also viewed by 27,861 individuals from 113 countries.Conclusions: 3D printing helped mitigate shortages of medical devices due to problems in the global supply chain.

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Evaluation of the Circularity of Recycled PLA Filaments for 3D Printers

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app10248967 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (24) ◽

pp. 8967

Author(s):

Victor Gil Muñoz ◽

Luisa M. Muneta ◽

Ruth Carrasco-Gallego ◽

Juan de Juanes Marquez ◽

David Hidalgo-Carvajal

Keyword(s):

Circular Economy ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Fused Filament Fabrication ◽

Circular Loop ◽

Material Supply ◽

3D Printers ◽

3D Printed ◽

Circular Economics ◽

High Level ◽

Additional Value

The circular economy model offers great opportunities to companies, as it not only allows them to capture additional value from their products and materials, but also reduce the fluctuations of price-related risks and material supply. These risks are present in all kind of businesses not based on the circular economy. The circular economy also enables economic growth without the need for more resources. This is because each unit has a higher value as a result of recycling and reuse of products and materials after use. Following this circular economics framework, the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM) has adopted strategies aimed at improving the circularity of products. In particular, this article provides the result of obtaining recycled PLA filament from waste originating from university 3D FFF (fused filament fabrication) printers and waste generated by “Coronamakers” in the production of visors and parts for PPEs (Personal Protective Equipment) during the lockdown period of COVID-19 in Spain. This filament is used in the production of 3D printed parts that university students use in their classes, so the circular loop is closed. The obtained score of Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) of this material has been calculated, indicating its high level of circularity.

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The Direct 3D Printing of Functional PEEK/Hydroxyapatite Composites via a Fused Filament Fabrication Approach

Polymers ◽

10.3390/polym13040545 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 545

Author(s):

Krzysztof Rodzeń ◽

Preetam K. Sharma ◽

Alistair McIlhagger ◽

Mozaffar Mokhtari ◽

Foram Dave ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tensile Strength ◽

3D Printing ◽

Selective Laser Sintering ◽

Fused Filament Fabrication ◽

Bone Apposition ◽

Innovative Solutions ◽

3D Printed ◽

Work Samples ◽

Viable Approach ◽

Crystalline Domains

The manufacture of polyetheretherketone/hydroxyapatite (PEEK/HA) composites is seen as a viable approach to help enhance direct bone apposition in orthopaedic implants. A range of methods have been used to produce composites, including Selective Laser Sintering and injection moulding. Such techniques have drawbacks and lack flexibility to manufacture complex, custom-designed implants. 3D printing gets around many of the restraints and provides new opportunities for innovative solutions that are structurally suited to meet the needs of the patient. This work reports the direct 3D printing of extruded PEEK/HA composite filaments via a Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) approach. In this work samples are 3D printed by a custom modified commercial printer Ultimaker 2+ (UM2+). SEM-EDX and µCT analyses show that HA particles are evenly distributed throughout the bulk and across the surface of the native 3D printed samples, with XRD highlighting up to 50% crystallinity and crystalline domains clearly observed in SEM and HR-TEM analyses. This highlights the favourable temperature conditions during 3D printing. The yield stress and ultimate tensile strength obtained for all the samples are comparable to human femoral cortical bone. The results show how FFF 3D printing of PEEK/HA composites up to 30 wt% HA can be achieved.

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Fused Filament Fabrication 3D Printed Polylactic Acid Electroosmotic Pumps

Lab on a Chip ◽

10.1039/d1lc00452b ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Liang Wu ◽

Stephen Beirne ◽

Joan-Marc Cabot Canyelles ◽

Brett Paull ◽

Gordon G. Wallace ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Additive Manufacturing ◽

3D Printing ◽

Polylactic Acid ◽

Fused Filament Fabrication ◽

Flexible Approach ◽

Electroosmotic Pump ◽

3D Printed ◽

Electroosmotic Pumps

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) offers a flexible approach for the production of bespoke microfluidic structures such as the electroosmotic pump. Here a readily accessible fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing...

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