Digital Manufacturing Technologies Research Articles

Design of intelligent terminal app for digital manufacturing technology based on virtual reality and wireless sensor network technology

Design of intelligent terminal app for digital manufacturing technology based on virtual reality and wireless sensor network technology

State of art on evaluation of three- to six-dimensional novel additive manufacturing technology for biomedical applications

Additive manufacturing has evolved over the last few decades. Three-dimensional printing is a digital manufacturing technology that provides nearly endless options for the creation of an accessible instrument for all parts of various medical practices, including tissue engineering, through meticulous optimization of material, processing, and geometry for every point in an object. Three-dimensional printing has opened up a new, faster, and safer manufacturing process, despite its incapability to fabricate complex structures and objects. Recently, novel four-dimensional printing techniques have been developed for the transformation of typical stable three-dimensional printed parts into smart objects. The limitations of three-dimensional printing could be remedied with four-dimensional printing, by applying time as the fourth dimension. Self-repairing and speedy printing are two additional benefits of this technology's by using smart materials. By adapting this technology, numerous medical domains could be profited. Four-dimensional printing does not have the ability to produce curved complicated forms. However, five-dimensional printing overcomes the flaws seems in four-dimensional printing. Five-dimensional additive manufacturing relies on the rotation of both the print bed and the extruder head. Five-dimensional printing outlasts in terms of durability than three- and four-dimensional printing. Currently, a combination of the principles of four- and five-dimensional printing into a single process is called six-dimensional printing. In six-dimensional printing, the form changes over time due to the reaction of environmental factors, which is primarily used in biomedical applications. This paper summarizes extensive research on biomaterials in the field of biomedical science and discusses the present implications of three-, four-, five-, and six-dimensional printing techniques.

Virtual warehousing through digitalized inventory and on-demand manufacturing: A case study

Novel digital on-demand manufacturing technologies provide a significant opportunity to support development of virtual warehousing and in turn improve supply chain performance. However, the implementation of virtual warehouse comes with a set of challenges, especially where the objective is to virtually warehouse standard or legacy parts that have been developed and verified initially for conventional (non-digital) manufacturing. In this paper, we explore the key elements required for successful implementation of a virtual warehouse for legacy parts based on a combination of part digitalization, on-demand manufacturing, and part validation. Our proposed framework for adoption of virtual warehouse includes development of a digital inventory which includes supply chain and manufacturability data, identification, and selection of suitable parts for on-demand manufacturing, selection of on-demand manufacturing technology, fit-for-purpose validation of the parts. Our framework is exemplified through a case study, and we conclude that the building of an effective virtual warehouse requires several enablers, including availability of digital data about technical and supply chain characteristics of parts, but also a suitable part identification tool. This part identification tool needs to be flexible to include comparison with reference parts already produced by different on-demand manufacturing technologies.

3D printed multi-coupled bioinspired skin-electronic interfaces with enhanced adhesion for monitoring and treatment

Skin-electronic interfaces have broad applications in fields such as diagnostics, therapy, health monitoring, and smart wearables. However, they face various challenges in practical use. For instance, in wet environments, the cohesion of the material may be compromised, and under dynamic conditions, maintaining conformal adhesion becomes difficult, leading to reduced sensitivity and fidelity of electrical signal transmission. The key scientific issue lies in forming a stable and tight mechanical-electronic coupling at the tissue-electronic interface. Here, inspired by octopus sucker structures and snail mucus, we propose a strategy for hydrogel skin-electronic interfaces based on multi-coupled bioinspired adhesion and introduce an ultrasound (US)-mediated interfacial toughness enhancement mechanism. Ultimately, using digital light processing micro-nano additive manufacturing technology (DLP 3D), we have developed a multifunctional, diagnostic-therapeutic integrated patch (PAMS). This patch exhibits moderate water swelling properties, a maximum deformation of up to 460%, high sensitivity (GF = 4.73), and tough and controllable bioadhesion (shear strength increased by 109.29%). Apart from outstanding mechanical and electronic properties, the patch also demonstrates good biocompatibility, anti-bacterial properties, photothermal properties, and resistance to freezing at −20 °C. Experimental results show that this skin-electronic interface can sensitively monitor temperature, motion, and electrocardiogram signals. Utilizing a rat frostbite model, we have demonstrated that this skin-electronic interface can effectively accelerate the wound healing process as a wound patch. This research offers a promising strategy for improving the performance of bioelectronic devices, sensor-based educational reforms and personalized diagnostics and therapeutics in the future. Statement of significanceEstablishing stable and tight mechanical-electronic coupling at the tissue-electronic interface is essential for the diverse applications of bioelectronic devices. This study aims to develop a multifunctional, diagnostic-therapeutic integrated hydrogel skin-electronic interface patch with enhanced interfacial toughness. The patch is based on a multi-coupled bioinspired adhesive-enhanced mechanism, allowing for personalized 3D printing customization. It can be used as a high-performance diagnostic-therapeutic sensor and effectively promote frostbite wound healing. We anticipate that this research will provide new insights for constructing the next generation of multifunctional integrated high-performance bioelectronic interfaces.

Digital manufacturing technology using computer systems

Digital manufacturing technology using computer systems

Is fair carbon mitigation practicable in China? Insights from digital technology innovation and carbon inequality

The uneven matching of distribution and targets in practicing carbon emission reduction has led to emission reduction inequality, while digital technology innovation (DTI) is expected to reduce these gaps. Therefore, this study casts new insights into modeling the nexus between DTI and carbon inequality using China's 286 prefecture-level cities from 2000 to 2021. Remarkably, city-level DTI performance is innovatively proxied by the related patent application volume, while the carbon inequality index within the region is measured using the environmental Gini coefficient. The main findings of this study include: (1) DTI robustly mitigates China's carbon inequality. (2) The effect of DTI is asymmetrically more significant in regions with a higher carbon inequality index. (3) DTI heterogeneously reduces carbon inequality more obviously in the eastern and central regions, and technology innovation in digital product manufacturing and digital technology application industries reduces carbon inequality more significantly. (4) More precisely, DTI strengthens carbon justice through income equalization, spatial agglomeration, and digital inclusion effects. Specifically, DTI significantly reduces income inequality and the digital economy's spatial agglomeration level and enhances digital financial inclusion, thereby reducing carbon inequality. This study also provides the policy implications for China.

Southern creative robotics – A collaborative framework to implement computational design, fabrication and robotics

Scientific knowledge, ideally neutral and impartial, is inevitably shaped by geographical, economic, and cultural contexts. This research contends that overcoming the constraints of human and economic scarcity, inertia, and limited funding access demands development of collaborative research networks. To this end, four university laboratories from Brazil and Chile - UFRJ, UBB, UTFSM and UAI - have united to advance robotics applied to architecture. The methodology begins with an analysis of Industry 4.0, Fab Lab implementations, and robotics in architecture in the region. They identify key research aspects by mapping each laboratory’s activities and technologies to pinpoint expertise and potential collaborative areas. The authors propose a summary table comparing the labs and a chronological overview to track regional robotics advancement. To raise awareness among peers, the initiative involves joint actions such as courses, workshops and technical visits. 1 Recognising the scarcity of robotic units and the inapplicability of procedures from wealthier contexts, the authors draw on their lab experience to propose guidelines for implementing robotics research units in academia within the region. This includes technological alternatives, installation considerations, and detailed configuration reviews. The deployment of additional robotic units is a means to foster collaboration and bolster the network. Anticipated outcomes encompass increased critical mass, collaborative research initiatives, faculty and student exchange across institutions, higher publication rates, knowledge acquisition, and improved access to global funding agencies. In summary, the Southern Creative Robotics network initiative aims to catalyse the creative integration of digital manufacturing and robotics technology within design in the Ibero-American context.

Current state and development trend of China's customized home furnishing industry

ABSTRACT Customization has become a new development trend in the furniture industry. Home customization can meet people's personalized needs and promote the innovative development of the furniture industry. This study combines the literature review and industry trend report to explore the development status of China's customized home furnishing industry. It analyzes the market scale, industrial layout, product penetration rate, industrial chain structure, and intelligent manufacturing equipment of this industry. The development characteristics of China's panel furniture machinery industry are as follows: lack of innovation in technology and equipment, market fragmentation and hierarchical, intelligent manufacturing equipment needs upgrading iteratively. As for the transformation and upgrading of China's customized home furnishing industry, the specific situation is summarized from the upstream, midstream and downstream of the industrial chain, mainly including raw and auxiliary material suppliers focus on terminal product research and development, integration of digital design and manufacturing technology, industry segmentation increases, and diversification of marketing channels. In the future, the customized home furnishing industry will build digital workshop, improve the standard system, emphasize the training of intelligent manufacturing professionals, and realize green and sustainable development. This study provides a reference for the world to understand the development of China's customized home furniture industry.

Let’s get them on board: Focus group discussions with adolescents on empowering leisure engagement in Fab Labs and makerspaces

Makerspaces and Fab Labs are growing in number all over the world, holding the potential to empower children and adolescents. They form an important pathway to provide young people with access to digital manufacturing technologies while fostering self-determination, collaboration, and creativity. We explore how the engagement in Fab Lab based leisure maker activities may be promoted, taking into account both the perspectives of adolescents and the potential of surrounding systems. For this, we conducted focus group discussions with N = 61 non-maker, adolescent girls and boys from 6th to 9th grade, to scrutinize hindering and promoting factors of their engagement in leisure maker activities, and to explore their preferences regarding the involvement of parents, teachers and peers while considering the ecological sustainability of the activities. A reflexive thematic analysis identified the hindering and promoting factors across different aspects of maker activities such as the purpose, location and setting, content, and learning processes. Implications for the promotion and design of maker activities, as well as implications for further research, are discussed.

TRIBOLOGY INTERFACE OVER DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND ENVISAGING TRIBOLOGY WITH PATENT LANDSCAPE — A QUEER REVIEW

Digital technologies sustain today’s world. Every part of the world is working towards digital technologies, which none of us can eliminate. Enormous growth is achieved only by unexpected acceleration by digital technologies, including the Internet of Everything (IoE), Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Machine Learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Deep Learning (DL), and many more. These technologies started occupying all the engineering sectors, including manufacturing. This paper focuses on tribology analysis related to manufacturing concerning various digital manufacturing technologies. The paper narration includes Tribology using digital technologies wherein the journals and patent landscape analysis abet them. In trend, Tribology utilizes all these technologies today and envisages its growth with the predominant technological invention in the border view. The survey of various literature reveals that only three digital technologies, including AI, ML, and ANN, are used by tribologists around the globe. Other Technologies like Evolutionary Algorithm (EA), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Interference Systems (ANFIS) are not used predominantly.

Do industrial robots matter for corporate environmental governance? Evidence from Chinese firms

PurposeThe connection between digital manufacturing technologies (Industry 4.0) and the environment has sparked discussions on firms' disclosure of negative information on pollutant emissions and the pursuit of positive environmental outcomes. However, very few studies explore how it relates to a firm's robot usage and its mechanism. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of robot penetration on firms' environmental governance in China.Design/methodology/approachThe ordered probit model (and probit model) are employed and empirically tested with a sample of 1,579 Chinese listed firms from 2010 to 2019.FindingsThe study reveals a negative relationship between robot usage and the disclosure of negative indicators and a U-shaped relationship between robot usage and positive environmental outcomes. Among the sample, nonstate-owned enterprises (SOEs) display unsatisfactory performance, while heavily polluting industries disclose more information on pollutant emissions. The robot–environmental governance nexus is conditional on firm size, capital intensity and local economic development.Originality/valueThe study proposes a fresh view of corporate environmental governance to assess the environmental implications of robot adoption. It also contributes to identifying the curvilinear, moderating and heterogenous effects in the robot–environment nexus. The results provide rich policy implications for the development of industrial intelligence and corporate environmental governance in the circular economy (CE) context.

Integration and Development of Reverse Engineering and Digital Manufacturing Technology

Integration and Development of Reverse Engineering and Digital Manufacturing Technology

Application of 4D printing in dentistry: A narrative review.

4D printing is an innovative digital manufacturing technology that originated by adding a fourth dimension, i.e., time, to pre-existing 3D technology or additive manufacturing (AM). AM is a fast-growing technology used in many fields, which develops accurate 3D objects based on models designed by computers. Dentistry is one such field in which 3D technology is used for manufacturing objects in periodontics (scaffolds, local drug-delivering agents, augmentation of ridges), implants, prosthodontics (partial and complete dentures, obturators), oral surgery for reconstructing jaw, and orthodontics. Dynamism is a vital property needed for the survival of materials used in the oral cavity since the oral cavity is constantly subjected to various insults. 4D printing technology has overcome the disadvantages of 3D printing technology, i.e., it cannot create dynamic objects. Therefore, constant knowledge of 4D technology is required. 3D printing technology has shortcomings, which are discussed in this review. This review summaries various printing technologies, materials used, stimuli, and potential applications of 4D technology in dentistry.

Preliminary study of knowledge transfer aspect in the creation of a framework for education and training of digital manufacturing technologies

Digitalization is changing the industry. As this change accelerates its speed, it also requires a transformation process where knowledge transfer between industry and research institutes play a significant role. There is a need to be more fluent, flexible, and efficient in order to get the latest research results into industrial implementation as quickly as possible. The challenge in knowledge transfer is that its speed in the current stage is too slow compared to the speed of development and changes required by digitalization of traditional manufacturing industries. The motivation for this study is the gap in knowledge transfer. One emerging digital transformation is the establishment of modern digital manufacturing technologies, e.g., additive manufacturing (AM). There are different approaches to supporting the industry in this transformation. Knowledge transfer can happen, for example, through education (e.g., master students) and industrial training, but also the fluent transfer of the latest research results from research institutes to companies is needed. University education needs to support the requirements of the manufacturing industry by providing future experts with skills to smooth the transformation process and bring novel technology applications, such as AM, to industrial-scale use. The article discusses how university education can support future competence-building in the industry. Similar needs are also present in industrial training, which universities often provide. Both education and training need to be improved from fundamental approaches to explain how this new knowledge should be created, i.e., how knowledge transfer happens most efficiently. The outcome of this article is the basis of the framework for education and training of digital manufacturing technologies by using modern learning methods and tools. More detailed pedagogical and knowledge transfer models can be developed and applied when this framework is created.

3D Printed Proto Type Model of Pelton Turbine Runner

Nowadays, different methods are used in the renewable energy sector for the fabrication of prime movers. A broad classification of the latest additive manufacturing technologies is discussed with ten different parameters like material used, speed, part size, accuracy, application, surface finish, complexity, costing, strength and weakness. Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is also referred to as digital manufacturing technology. 3D printing technology creates physical objects from a geometrical representation by successive addition of materials. Polylactic acid material will be cost-effective to develop the laboratory scale prototype Pelton turbine model. The fused deposition method gives durable products with plastic filament material. FDM provides an optimum condition for the manufacturing of curved surfaces. A step by step process is emphasis for the digital printing of 3D Pelton buckets, runner and shaft. Difficulties associated with the orientation of the Pelton bucket is overcome by using mechanical support structures.

3D digital manufacturing technologies, materials, and artificial intelligence in art

3D digital manufacturing technologies, materials, and artificial intelligence in art

The unequal implications of Industry 4.0 adoption: evidence on productivity growth and convergence across Europe

ABSTRACT Do new manufacturing technologies of the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) boost TFP growth? By adopting a distance-to-frontier framework, this paper explores whether the adoption of (advanced) digital technologies affect the sectoral TFP growth rates across manufacturing industries of 14 European countries, during the period 2009–2019. We rely on a novel measure of adoption of I4.0 technologies (namely, advanced industrial robots, additive manufacturing and industrial internet of things), exploiting highly detailed (8-digit level) information on imports of capital goods embodying such technologies. Our results suggest that adopting new digital manufacturing technologies of the I4.0 brings quantitatively important and statistically significant contributions to sectoral TFP growth rates, although these are mostly concentrated in countries close to the technology frontier. In turn, these technologies seem to have hampered the process of convergence between European technological leaders and laggards over the last decade.

Research on Digital Manufacturing Technology of Key Components of Artificial Knee Joint

The surface of the artificial knee joint manufactured by 3D printing technology is rough. This study uses advanced multi-axis machining technology to study how to improve the manufacturing accuracy of the artificial knee joint surface, and uses five-axis machining CAM software to analyze the process of three-dimensional model of the artificial knee joint and to compile tool path, create a five-axis special post-processor, convert the tool path point file into the NC program for machine tool processing. In order to ensure the safety and efficiency of the processing procedure, a Mikron HEM-500U machine tool simulation platform was built in the VERICUT simulation system for simulation processing verification, and then the blank prototype obtained by 3D printing was processed in a five-axis machine tool to meet medical clinical use requirements.

The State of the Art in Digital Construction of Clay Buildings: Reviews of Existing Practices and Recommendations for Future Development

Under the trend of digitization and global carbon reductions, clay construction has increasingly attracted attention due to advantages such as an excellent thermal performance, low carbon emissions, and high cost-effectiveness. In this article, an in-depth investigation is conducted into the potential, challenges, and future in the development of digital manufacturing technologies for clay architecture, especially 3D printing, robotic construction, and prefabrication systems. It is revealed through a review that digital clay construction is under rapid development and likely to provide a viable solution to achieving global carbon neutrality, which is conducive to addressing various regional issues. The key findings from this review are as follows. Firstly, as a flexible, precise, and low-carbon industrial solution, 3D printing lays a foundation for the extensive research on materials, equipment, and algorithm optimization. Secondly, the use of machine construction methods such as modern rammed earth technology and drone spraying is effective in improving efficiency and lowering costs. Lastly, the prefabricated building system shows its potential in renewing and developing the rammed earth architecture culture. These findings indicate a massive potential of digital clay construction to support sustainability efforts in the future.

Horizontal integration for steel fabrication compliance process

In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, digital and internet-based manufacturing technologies in the context of smart production have become the future trends in the industry. Businesses have to upgrade their manufacturing systems to retain their market position. Considering the tremendous amount of data produced during the process, data management becomes a critical and fundamental aspect of the revolution. The main objective of this research is to devise a practical approach to achieving horizontal integration of data between stakeholders in the steel industry and build an audition system to extract and collect data from non-destructive testing reports. The audition system included a database management system for high efficiency and secure storage of data in the database and a graphic user interface to establish real-time data connectivity between the database and users. The system is tested under a simulated industrial environment. Further functionalities and testing are still needed to achieve the horizontal integration of data throughout the entire Steel Industry.