3D Printing Applications in STEM Education

Advanced Methodologies and Technologies in Modern Education Delivery - Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-7365-4.ch039 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 489-507

Author(s):

Norman Gwangwava ◽

Catherine Hlahla

Keyword(s):

3D Printing ◽

Real Life ◽

Printing Technology ◽

Web Based ◽

Practical Applications ◽

3D Printing Technology ◽

Lecture Room ◽

Storage Products ◽

Educational Toys ◽

Learning Institutions

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.

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3D Printing Applications in STEM Education

Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-2255-3.ch229 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 2626-2640

Author(s):

Norman Gwangwava ◽

Catherine Hlahla

Keyword(s):

3D Printing ◽

Real Life ◽

Printing Technology ◽

Web Based ◽

Practical Applications ◽

3D Printing Technology ◽

Lecture Room ◽

Storage Products ◽

Educational Toys ◽

Learning Institutions

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.

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Reducing Inequality through Technology Diffusion: The Case of 3D printing in Public Libraries

10.31235/osf.io/2y8w3 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas Woodson ◽

Nataliia Telendii ◽

Robert Tolliver

Keyword(s):

3D Printing ◽

Low Income ◽

Public Libraries ◽

Digital Inclusion ◽

Printing Technology ◽

Practical Applications ◽

Marginalized Communities ◽

3D Printing Technology ◽

Poverty And Inequality ◽

3D Printers

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.

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High-Throughput 3D Printing of Customized Imaging Lenses

Volume 1: Additive Manufacturing; Bio and Sustainable Manufacturing ◽

10.1115/msec2018-6302 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Xiangfan Chen ◽

Wenzhong Liu ◽

Biqin Dong ◽

Henry Oliver T. Ware ◽

Hao F. Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

3D Printing ◽

High Speed ◽

Synergistic Effects ◽

Optical Components ◽

Printing Technology ◽

Aspheric Lens ◽

Practical Applications ◽

3D Print ◽

3D Printing Technology ◽

Speed Accuracy

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.

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Active control on switchable waveguide of elastic wave metamaterials with the 3D printing technology

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-019-52705-5 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Guan-Hua Li ◽

Yi-Ze Wang ◽

Yue-Sheng Wang

Keyword(s):

Control System ◽

3D Printing ◽

Elastic Wave ◽

Active Control ◽

Flexural Wave ◽

Printing Technology ◽

Practical Applications ◽

3D Printing Technology ◽

Element Simulation ◽

Active Control System

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.

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Overview of 3D-Printed Silica Glass

Micromachines ◽

10.3390/mi13010081 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 81

Author(s):

Han Zhang ◽

Long Huang ◽

Mingyue Tan ◽

Shaoqing Zhao ◽

Hua Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

3D Printing ◽

High Speed ◽

Printing Technology ◽

Technology Application ◽

Practical Applications ◽

3D Printing Technology ◽

Advantages And Disadvantages ◽

3D Printed ◽

Glass Preparation ◽

Temperature Melting

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.

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