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Manufacturing technology


y now, most people are familiar with the concept of 3D printing. The technology is well- established across every manufacturing sector, from home appliances to aerospace to construction. Within the medical devices industry, 3D printing (otherwise known as additive manufacturing) is widely used to create surgical tools, anatomical models and medical implants. A lesser-known technology is 4D printing. If 2D printing refers to printing flat pages and 3D printing adds the extra dimension of volume, then 4D printing brings in the fourth dimension – time. If this sounds implausibly


Fabrication in 4D B


sci-fi, it doesn’t have to. It simply means that the constructs printed aren’t static. Unlike 3D printed objects, they exhibit dynamic features, which are designed to undergo pre-programmed changes in particular contexts.


“4D printing is a relatively new technology in additive manufacturing,” says Professor Mohammad Mirzaali, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Delft University of Technology. “It refers to creating 3D printed objects capable of changing their properties, function or shape over time in response to external stimuli.”


Medical Device Developments / www.medicaldevice-developments.com 41


If 3D printing was transformative for medical manufacturing, then its 4D successor promises to take device makers’ capabilities even further. Four-dimensional printing is an advanced technique that enables the fabrication of 3D objects whose properties can change in response to specific stimuli, such as a change in temperature or pH levels. Abi Millar speaks to Mohammad Mirzaali and Amir Zadpoor of the Delft University of Technology, as well as Eujin Pei of Brunel University of London, to uncover the potential of 4D printing.


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