May 2, 2022

Liviah Lewis

9th Grade

The Frisch School

A Japanese company is planning on making customized sushi curated specifically to their customers' saliva and taste. Human hearts for transplants are being grown in labs. Additionally, scientists are growing even closer to building houses, apartments, and other infrastructure on the moon. How is all of this happening? 3D printing.

In 1986, Chuck Hull was working on lamps for UV-curable resin (a type of plastic that hardens faster under UV light). He came up with the idea of a printer that could create an object by printing successive layers of resin. Soon, he co-founded a company called 3D Systems Corporation that popularized this new groundbreaking technology. Over the years, 3D printing has evolved to become even more widespread with now infinite possibilities.

3D printing takes a digital file and turns it into a real three-dimensional object. The most common way of manufacturing items is through subtractive manufacturing, which carves out of a block of material until it has reached the desired shape. However, this leads to a lot of material being wasted. 3D printing works through an additive process, adding thin layers of material on top of each other until an object is formed, which is far more effective at conserving materials, thus more cost-effective as well as better for the environment. 

3D printing has many applications in our world. Companies are using 3D printing for rapid prototyping as it’s faster, easier to make adjustments, and cheaper than normal prototyping. Paleontologists and archaeologists utilize 3D printing to recreate fossils and ancient artifacts. Even movie sets use 3D printing for cheaper props. 

In war-torn countries, people are 3D printing prosthetic limbs. These prosthetics can be under $100 and are revolutionary for people in need. With the spread of 3D printing, amputees' lives will be changed all over the world.

Lastly, 3D printing is expected to revolutionize space travel. Already, rockets with many 3D-printed parts have been sent into space on successful missions. But even more important, rocket scientists have 3D-printed items in space. This development could lead to remotely building structures and buildings on the moon. In the future, we are even expected to be able to 3D print in space using surrounding materials like moon dust. These experiments are only the beginning. 3D printing has the ability to revolutionize our lives and change the future of humanity.