3D Printing: The Next Big Thing. Explained

A 3D printer cannot make any object on demand like the "Star Trek" replicators of science fiction. But a growing array of 3D printing machines has already begun to revolutionize the business of making things in the real world.

3D printers work by following a computer's digital instructions to "print" an object using materials such as plastic, ceramics and metal. The printing process involves building up an object one layer at a time until it's complete. For instance, some 3D printers squirt out a stream of heated, semi-liquid plastic that solidifies as the printer's head moves around to create the outline of each layer within the object.

One of the 3-D printers at work in the Mediated Matter group at the MIT Media Lab.
Credit: MIT | Melanie Gonick

The instructions used by 3D printers often take the form of computer-aided design (CAD) files — digital blueprints for making different objects. That means a person can design an object on their computer using 3D modeling software, hook the computer up to a 3D printer, and the watch the 3D printer build the object right before his or her eyes.

History of 3D printing

Manufacturers have quietly used 3D printing technology — also known as additive manufacturing — to build models and prototypes of products over the past 20 years. Charles Hull invented the first commercial 3D printer and offered it for sale through his company 3D Systems in 1986. Hull's machine used stereolithography, a technique that relies upon a laser to solidify an ultraviolet-sensitive polymer material wherever the ultraviolet laser touches.

The technology remained relatively unknown to the greater public until the second decade of the 21st century. A combination of U.S. government funding and commercial startups has created a new wave of unprecedented popularity around the idea of 3D printing since that time.

First, President Barack Obama's administration awarded $30 million to create the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) in 2012 as a way of helping to revitalize U.S. manufacturing. NAMII acts as an umbrella organization for a network of universities and companies that aims to refine 3D printing technology for rapid deployment in the manufacturing sector.

Second, a new wave of startups has made the idea of 3D printing popular within the so-called "Maker" movement that emphasizes do-it-yourself projects. Many of those companies offer 3D printing services or sell relatively cheap 3D printers that can cost just hundreds rather than thousands of dollars.

3D printing Yoda using wooden material

Future of 3D printing

3D printing probably won't replace many of the usual assembly-line methods for building standard products. Instead, the technology offers the advantage of making individual, specifically tailored parts on demand — something more suited to creating specialized parts for U.S. military aircraft rather than making thousands of trash cans for sale at Wal-Mart. Boeing has already used 3D printing to make more than 22,000 parts used on civilian and military aircraft flying today.

Mechanical engineer Larry Bonassar holds a fabricated ear printed with a 3D printer in his lab at Cornell University's Weill Hall.  Credit: Lindsay France/Cornell University Photography

The medical industry has also taken advantage of 3D printing's ability to make unique objects that might otherwise be tough to build using traditional methods. U.S. surgeons implanted a3D-printed skull piece to replace 75 percent of a patient's skull during an operation in March 2013. Researchers also built a 3D-printed earmold that served as the framework for a bioengineered ear with living cells.

The spread of 3D printing technology around the world could also shrink geographical distances for both homeowners and businesses. Online marketplaces already allow individuals to upload 3D-printable designs for objects and sell them anywhere in the world. Rather than pay hefty shipping fees and import taxes, sellers can simply arrange for a sold product to be printed at whatever 3D printing facility is closest to the buyer.

Such 3D printing services may not be limited to specialty shops or companies in the near future. Staples stores plan to offer 3D printing services in the Netherlands and Belgium starting in 2013.

Businesses won't be alone in benefiting from 3D printing's print-on-demand-anywhere capability. The U.S. military has deployed 3D printing labs to Afghanistan as a way to speed up the pace of battlefield innovation and rapidly build whatever soldiers might need onsite. NASA has looked into 3D printing for making replacement parts aboard the International Space Station and building spacecraft in orbit.

Most 3D printers don't go beyond the size of household appliances such as refrigerators, but 3D printing could even scale up in size to build objects as big as a house. A separate NASA project has investigated the possibility of building lunar bases for future astronauts by using moon "dirt" known as regolith.

Limitations of 3D printing

But 3D printing still has its limits. Most 3D printers can only print objects using a specific type of material — a serious limitation that prevents 3D printers from creating complex objects such as an Apple iPhone. Yet researchers and commercial companies have begun developing workarounds. Optomec, a company based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has already made a 3D printer capable of printing electronic circuitry onto objects.

A .22 pistol assembled using a 3D-printed receiver part.
Credit: HaveBlue.org

The 3D printing boom could eventually prove disruptive in both a positive and negative sense. For instance, the ability to easily share digital blueprints online and print out the objects at home has proven a huge boon for do-it-yourself makers.

But security experts worry about 3D printing's ability to magnify the effects of digital piracy and the sharing of knowledge that could prove dangerous in the wrong hands. Defense Distributed, a Texas group, has already begun pushing societal boundaries by working on the world's first fully 3D-printable gun.

Low-cost saltwater battery wins $500,000 award

This could be a turning point for renewable energy.

A relatively cheap and environmentally friendly battery that uses saltwater and other commonly available materials to solve one of the biggest technical challenges facing renewable energy technologies was awarded a prize whose past recipients have gone on to have significant impact on technology and society at large.

An Aqueous Hybrid Ion battery roughly the size of a dishwasher or small refrigerator potentially stores enough solar or wind energy to power a single-family home completely off the grid in a region where sunlight is relatively plentiful, according to Dr. Jay Whitacre, a professor of materials science at Carnegie Mellon who invented the battery.

Whitacre founded Aquion Energy in 2008 and received venture funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers shortly thereafter. It was announced Tuesday that Whitacre was given the 2015 Lemelson-MIT Prize, an award worth $500,000, for inventing the battery. (Investors in Aquion include Bill Gates and venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers.)

Past winners of the Lemelson-MIT Prize have included other influential inventors, including Ray Kurzweil, Dean Kamen, Douglas Engelbart, the inventor of the computer mouse, and Leroy Hood, who invented the DNA sequencer.

A suitable and inexpensive method for storing energy could be a boon to the adoption of renewable energy technology, especially sources such as wind and solar energy.

When conditions are favorable, these sources are capable of capturing much more energy than users might immediately need. But when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing, they are of little help.

Scientists and the renewable energy industry have considered using batteries to smooth out this imbalance; energy captured when sun or wind are abundant can be stored and be meted out in leaner times.

This would make wind and solar far more competitive with fossil fuels and nuclear power, which are seen as providing a steadier stream of electricity than wind and solar.

There already are similar batteries available, but Whitacre says they are typically made with materials that might be unsafe, are more expensive or are environmentally dangerous.

Lithium-ion batteries are a common technology that Whitacre said might be considered competitors with Aquion's batteries, but lithium-ion batteries that can perform for as many charge and discharge cycles as Aquion's saltwater battery would cost significantly more.

Whitacre said that the company should be able to sell Aquion batteries capable of powering a typical single family home for between $1,000 and $3,000, depending on the size, once the company is working at full production in the next year or two. Those batteries will last for about 3,000 cycles, or 3,000 days and nights. So, if the battery were hooked up to solar panels, one day would represent a full charge and one night might represent a full discharge. Taken together, one charge and one discharge makes one complete cycle.

In addition, lithium-ion batteries are full of a flammable solvent, whereas the Aquion battery are nonflammable and nonexplosive, Whitacre told CNBC.

"[Our batteries] cannot burn, they are full of water," he said. "And when they dry out, they are fire retardant." The batteries also do not use heavy metals or toxic chemicals.

Michael Webber, deputy director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, said he was not familiar with Aquion Energy in particular, but he said that a saltwater-based battery poses a number of potential advantages over other options.

"With some battery technologies, such as lithium-ion, you have potential issues with the price and availability of the materials."

Webber said that some of the materials needed for batteries could prove difficult to source down the road. There even could be trade or supply-chain security issues that may hinder access to needed materials in countries where they are mined.

"Saltwater, on the other hand, is everywhere, so you don't have those same constraints," he said.

Aqueous-ion batteries are also easier to build than lithium-ion batteries, said Robert Fares, a researcher in Webber's lab at the University of Texas.

"It is basically electrodes that dip into the saltwater, whereas lithium batteries undergo this complex manufacturing process," Fares told CNBC.

Stringing lithium-ion batteries together also generally requires a battery management system to manage them, which Aquion's batteries do not need.

However, there are a couple of limitations to saltwater batteries in general, Fares said. First, aqueous-ion batteries have a lower energy density than lithium batteries; lithium-ion batteries can pack more battery capacity into a smaller case than aqueous-ion batteries can.

And, generally lithium-ion batteries come out on top for efficiency.

"A battery is a box of energy where you put a certain amount of energy in, and you get a slightly smaller amount of energy out," he said. With lithium-ion, you get out a larger amount of the energy that you had put into the box.

That might not be a problem for aqueous-ion batteries, as long as they save enough money over lithium-ion to make up for the lost efficiency, Fares said.

Aquion is focusing its near-term sales efforts on areas where energy is expensive and dirty, such as island regions, developing countries or remote regions with poor energy infrastructure. 

Courtesy: msn.com