Fully 3D‐Printed Wave‐Wound Electromagnetic Motors

Additive manufacturing (AM), commonly known as 3D printing, has garnered significant attention across various industries for its flexibility and simplicity in fabrication. This review explores the evolution of AM technologies, encompassing rapid prototyping and 3D printing, which have revolutionized conventional manufacturing processes. The paper discusses the transition from rapid prototyping to AM and highlights its role in creating fully customized products, optimizing topologies, and fabricating complex designs, especially in the aerospace, medical, automotive, defense energy and food industries. The study delves into the fundamental principles of 3D and 4D printing technologies, detailing their processes, materials, and applications. It provides an overview of the various AM techniques, such as Vat photopolymerization, powder bed fusion, material extrusion, and directed energy deposition, shedding light on their classifications and applications. Furthermore, the paper explores the emergence of 4D printing, which introduces an additional dimension of “time” to enable dynamic changes in printed structures. The role of AM in different industries, including aerospace, medical, automotive, energy, and Industry 4.0, is thoroughly examined. The aerospace sector benefits from AM's ability to reduce production costs and lead times, while the medical field leverages bioprinting for synthetic organ fabrication and surgical equipment development. Similarly, AM enhances flexibility and customization in automotive manufacturing, energy production, and Industry 4.0 initiatives Overall, this review provides insights into the growing significance of AM technologies and their transformative impact on various industries. It underscores the potential of 3D and 4D printing to drive innovation, optimize production processes, and meet the evolving demands of modern manufacturing.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an additive manufacturing technique that generates real objects from digital 3D computer models. Seven primary additive manufacturing procedures have a significant impact on the education, business, and government domains. 3D printing is a hands-on learning activity that complements flipped learning and other active learning strategies, designed to stimulate creativity and critical thinking skills. 3D printing is frequently employed as a learning technique in medical education to enhance comprehension of anatomical and physiological principles. Medical students have reported higher knowledge gains following interactions with 3D printed models. Other disciplines, such as biology, chemistry, and botany, utilize 3D printing to reinforce fundamental topics. Several important undergraduate outcomes, including engagement, information transmission, satisfaction, and concept comprehension, are enhanced in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses that incorporate 3D printing as part of their teaching approach. While the costs of 3D printing technology are more affordable, the costs of 3D printing remain a significant factor in underutilization on campuses with limited resources. More social science qualitative research is required to understand the impact of 3D printing on STEM undergraduate perceptions and outcomes. Furthermore, additional 3D printing teaching and learning materials are necessary to broaden usage across STEM fields. The article presents ten 3D printing qualitative open-ended survey questions to investigate STEM undergraduate viewpoints.

6 - Advanced application of additive manufacturing in the footwear industry: from customized insoles to fully 3D-printed shoes

Additive manufacturing technology empowered complex electromechanical energy conversion devices and transformers

Purpose Axial flux permanent magnet (AFPM) motors face challenges in achieving high-speed operation and suffer from the high cost of permanent magnet materials. To improve the speed expansion capability of the motor and reduce motor costs, a new type of less-rare-earth reverse salient-pole axial flux motor was proposed by adopting a combination of magnetic poles and adding magnetic barriers. This design achieved the reverse salient-pole characteristics of an axial motor and improved the constant power speed regulation range of the motor. Design/methodology/approach This paper designs a double-stator axial flux motor featuring alternating ferrite-neodymium-iron-boron poles and alternating iron-core poles with reverse-salient poles. First, the evolution of the motor topology is introduced. Second, the equivalent magnetic circuit of the designed motor is analyzed. By opening magnetic barriers in the rotor and using an alternating ferrite-neodymium-iron-boron pole method, the reverse salient-pole characteristics of the axial motor are achieved and the manufacturing cost of the motor is reduced. Finally, the structure of the magnetic barriers used to achieve the reverse salient-pole in the axial motor is optimized, and the electromagnetic performance of the three optimized motors is compared. Findings The results show that the ferrite-NdFeB alternating structure CP-AFPM-A has better overall performance, the cost of its permanent magnet material is reduced by 40% compared with that of CAFPM and CP-AFPM-A possesses a higher speed regulation capability and a wider range of constant power regulation when the rotational speed is up to 3,500 r/min. Originality/value Compared with traditional surface-mounted axial flux motors, the rare-earth-reduced reverse salient-pole axial flux motor proposed in this paper not only reduces motor costs but also, due to the characteristics of its reverse salient-pole, holds significant engineering value in expanding the motor’s speed regulation range during high-speed operation.

Critical appraisal and systematic review of 3D & 4D printing in sustainable and environment-friendly smart manufacturing technologies

Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques add material layer-by-layer to fabricate parts or products, compared to subtractive manufacturing processes, where the material is removed to obtain the final product. The most common method among AM techniques is fused filament fabrication (FFF), which uses filament material to print objects into end products. The present study's aims include designing and fabricating a custom FFF-based 3D printer and investigating the effects of three process parameters on the tensile properties of the 3D-printed samples. Initially, the 3D printer was successfully fabricated. The locally fabricated 3D printer uses Marlin Firmware 2.0 as programming code to control different functionalities of the printing processes. After fabrication and calibration, the printer 3D-printed a few samples successfully. Moreover, a design of experiments plan was formulated to print tensile specimens based on the levels of the process parameters. Tensile testing was performed, and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that the process parameters significantly affected the tensile strength. The effects of the process parameters were then analyzed, along with the defect formation and microstructure analysis. Finally, optimum parameters for printing PLA parts with better tensile properties were figured out for the designed 3D printer.

The widespread application of additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, commonly known as three-dimensional (3D) printing, in industrial and home-business sectors, and the expected increase in the number of workers and consumers that use these devices, have raised concerns regarding the possible health implications of 3D printing emissions. To inform the risk assessment and management processes, this review evaluates available data concerning exposure assessment in AM workplaces and possible effects of 3D printing emissions on humans identified through in vivo and in vitro models in order to inform risk assessment and management processes. Peer-reviewed literature was identified in Pubmed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Science databases. The literature demonstrated that a significant fraction of the particles released during 3D printing could be in the ultrafine size range. Depending upon the additive material composition, increased levels of metals and volatile organic compounds could be detected during AM operations, compared with background levels. AM phases, specific job tasks performed, and preventive measures adopted may all affect exposure levels. Regarding possible health effects, printer emissions were preliminary reported to affect the respiratory system of involved workers. The limited number of workplace studies, together with the great variety of AM techniques and additive materials employed, limit generalizability of exposure features. Therefore, greater scientific efforts should be focused at understanding sources, magnitudes, and possible health effects of exposures to develop suitable processes for occupational risk assessment and management of AM technologies.

Recent advances on 3D printing graphene-based composites

Composite products are often created using traditional manufacturing methods such as compression or injection molding. Recently, additive manufacturing (3D printing) techniques have been used for fabricating composites. 3D printing is the process of producing three-dimensional parts through the successive combination of various layers of material. This layering effect in combination with exposure to ambient (or reduced) temperature and pressure cause the finished products to have inconsistent microstructures. The inconsistent microstructures along with the oriented reinforcing fibers create anisotropic parts with difficulty to predict mechanical properties. In this paper, the mechanical properties of fiber reinforced polymer composites produced by additive manufacturing technique (3D printing) and by traditional manufacturing technique (compression molding) were investigated. Three open-source 3D printers, i.e. FlashForge Dreamer, Tevo Tornado, and Prusa i3 Mk3, were used to fabricate bending samples from carbon-fiber reinforced ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene). Results showed that there exist significant discrepancies and anisotropies in mechanical properties of 3D printed composites. First, the properties vary greatly among parts made from different printers. Secondly, the mechanical responses of 3D printed parts strongly depend upon the orientations of the filaments. Parts with the infill oriented along the length of the specimens showed the most favorable mechanical responses such as Young’s modulus, maximum strength, and toughness. Thirdly, all 3D printed parts exhibit inferior properties to those made by conventional manufacturing. Finally, theoretical modeling has been attempted to predict the mechanical responses of 3D printed products and can potentially be used to “design” the 3D printing processes to achieve the optimal performance.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the applications of 3D printing in space sectors. The authors have highlighted the potential research gap that can be explored in the current field of study. Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an additive manufacturing technique that uses metallic powder, ceramic or polymers to build simple/complex parts. The parts produced possess good strength, low weight and excellent mechanical properties and are cost-effective. Therefore, efforts have been made to make the adoption of 3D printing successful in space so that complex parts can be manufactured in space. This saves a considerable amount of both time and carrying cost. Thereof the challenges and opportunities that the space sector holds for additive manufacturing is worth reviewing to provide a better insight into further developments and prospects for this technology.Design/methodology/approachThe potentiality of 3D printing for the manufacturing of various components under space conditions has been explained. Here, the authors have reviewed the details of manufactured parts used for zero-gravity missions, subjected to onboard international space station conditions and with those manufactured on earth. Followed by the major opportunities in 3D printing in space which include component repair, material characterization, process improvement and process development along with the new designs. The challenges like space conditions, availability of power in space, the infrastructure requirements and the quality control or testing of the items that are being built in space are explained along with their possible mitigation strategies.FindingsThese components are well comparable with those prepared on earth which enables a massive cost saving. Other than the onboard manufacturing process, numerous other components as well as a complete robot/satellite for outer space applications were manufactured by additive manufacturing. Moreover, these components can be recycled onboard to produce feedstock for the next materials. The parts produced in space are bought back and compared with those built on earth. There is a difference in their nature, i.e. the flight specimen showed a brittle nature, and the ground specimen showed a denser nature.Originality/valueThis review discusses the advancements of 3D printing in space and provides numerous examples of the applications of 3D printing in space and space applications. This paper is solely dedicated to 3D printing in space. It provides a breakthrough in the literature as a limited amount of literature is available on this topic. This paper aims at highlighting all the challenges that additive manufacturing faces in the space sector and also the future opportunities that await development.

Additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, has attracted substantial attention in the aerospace sector due to its potential for complex part manufacturing, reduced material waste, and greater design freedom. The integration of robot-assisted systems with additive manufacturing (AM) techniques has demonstrated the potential to enhance efficiency, precision, and scalability. This review paper seeks to investigate recent advancements in robot-assisted AM for aerospace applications, emphasizing their impact on the industry and discussing future possibilities. The concept of robot-assisted additive manufacturing has been addressed and its advantages over traditional methods are highlighted. A complete examination of contemporary research and breakthroughs in this sector is offered, covering wire arcing additive manufacturing, laser metal deposition, and the extrusion of composite materials. The hardware implementation, printing material utilization, and printing path planning methods are investigated for the AM of metallic and fiber-reinforced composite materials. The challenges connected with robot-assisted AM, including system calibration, accuracy, and adaptability to complicated geometries, have been studied as well. Overall, the insights presented will be beneficial for researchers, engineers, and industry professionals working in aerospace manufacturing, paving the path for the next generation of robot-assisted AM techniques.

Microstrip patch antennas (MPAs) are compact and easy-to-fabricate antennas, widely used in long-distance communications. MPAs are commonly fabricated using subtractive methods such as photolithographic etching of metals previously deposited using sputtering or evaporation. Despite being an established technique, subtractive manufacturing requires various process steps and generates material waste. Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques instead allow optimal use of material, besides enabling rapid prototyping. AM methods are thus especially interesting for the fabrication of electronic components such as MPAs. AM methods include both 2D and 3D techniques, which can also be combined to embed components within 3D-printed enclosures, protecting them from hazards and/or developing haptic interfaces. In this work, we exploit the combination of 2D and 3D printing AM techniques to realize three MPA configurations: flat, curved (at 45∘), and embedded. First, the MPAs were designed and simulated at 2.3 GHz with a −16.25 dB S 11 value. Then, the MPA dielectric substrate was 3D-printed using polylactic acid via fused deposition modeling, while the antenna material (conductive silver ink) was deposited using three different AM methods: screen printing, water transfer, and syringe-based injection. The fabricated MPAs were fully operational between 2.2–2.4 GHz, with the flat MPA having a higher S 11 peak value compared to the curved and embedded MPAs. Development of such AM MPAs in various configurations demonstrated in this work can enable rapid development of long-range antennas for novel applications in e.g. aerospace and Internet of Things sectors.

Hybrid additive manufacturing of a piezopolymer-based inertial sensor

reduced to silence