![]() One example is work taking place at the Self-Assembly Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Yet, despite its small market size, emerging research shows that 4D printing could provide physicians and surgeons with new tools for everything from generating replacement skin to creating objects that respond to changes in their environment. “The ability of the 4D printing technology in manufacturing smart medical models will bring significant transformation in the medical field and will support the growth of this segment in the forecast period,” according to the report. In 2021, the medical and research models segment is expected to account for the largest share of the overall healthcare market. One survey by puts the overall market for 4D printing in healthcare at a meager $9 million in 2021, rising to $32 million by 2026. Latest in News: How Coronavirus is Reshaping the Engineering World Most activity now is still in research and development. But with a few possible exceptions, wide-scale application remains years away. Tiny, soft devices could be inserted or implanted in people, and harden when they reach the affected area. Shape-shifting materials could be used for small, implantable medical devices, said Lee. Airbus is investigating 4D-printed components that could lighten the weight and improve the performance of aircraft.ĤD-printed healthcare applications may be the closest to commercial applications. Their potential use ranges from shielding a spacecraft from extreme temperatures to erecting an antenna in space. NASA has already produced woven metal fabrics that change shape and are foldable. Smart materials have the ability to change shape over time, creating a wide-ranging universe of potential new products. “You first have to have 3D manufacturing capability and then you add smart materials,” said Howon Lee, an associate professor of mechanical and space engineering at Rutgers University. ![]() Time is the element that pushes 3D to 4D, creating printed materials that change their shape over time. What is the next step? It's 4D printing, a term that is a bit of a misnomer because it still relies on 3D printers. Even so, there are limits to what can be done because the materials are rigid. New printing techniques and their ability to print objects from a growing variety of materials such as plastics, metals, ceramics, and more allow developers and manufacturers to speed prototyping, streamline supply chains, and produce complex designs not previously possible. Potential applications for shape memory structures are also addressed in this review.Rapid advancements in 3D printing that have fueled the development of advanced manufacturing applications are well-known. Shape recovery is highly dependent on the recovery temperature. Nozzle temperature, fill density, print patterns, and raster angle are 3D printing parameters that influence the material shape change. The glass transition temperature proved to be a highly important parameter, which can be modified by molecular weight changes. Focused on thermoplastic poly(lactic acid) (PLA) printed by fused deposition modeling, this review addressed the influence of molecular weight, polymeric chain modifications, and 3D printing parameters on the shape change effect of a PLA-based material. Understanding the aspects related to this behavior, both at the macroscopic level of the structure and at the microscopic level of the polymeric chain, is fundamental. However, as 4D technology emerges from AM, various challenges still need to be explored, such as the controlled morphing effect. This new concept of printing three-dimensional (3D) objects opens the possibility for solving processing issues, through the production of complex geometries that can undergo programmed temporal changes in response to external stimuli. Four-dimensional (4D) printing combines stimulus-responsive materials with additive manufacturing (AM) technologies.
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