Advancements and Limitations in 3D Printing Materials and Technologies: A Critical Review

Syed Fouzan Iftekar; Abdul Aabid; Adibah Amir; Muneer Baig

doi:10.3390/polym15112519

journal article Open Access May 30, 2023

Advancements and Limitations in 3D Printing Materials and Technologies: A Critical Review

Syed Fouzan Iftekar Abdul Aabid

Adibah Amir Muneer Baig

Polymers Vol. 15 No. 11 pp. 2519 · MDPI AG

View at Publisher Save 10.3390/polym15112519

Abstract

3D printing has revolutionized various industries by enabling the production of complex designs and shapes. Recently, the potential of new materials in 3D printing has led to an exponential increase in the technology’s applications. However, despite these advancements, the technology still faces significant challenges, including high costs, low printing speeds, limited part sizes, and strength. This paper critically reviews the recent trends in 3D printing technology, with a particular focus on the materials and their applications in the manufacturing industry. The paper highlights the need for further development of 3D printing technology to overcome its limitations. It also summarizes the research conducted by experts in this field, including their focuses, techniques, and limitations. By providing a comprehensive overview of the recent trends in 3D printing, this review aims to provide valuable insights into the technology’s prospects.

Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References

92

[1]

Jakus, A.E. (2018). 3D Printing in Orthopaedic Surgery, Elsevier.

[2]

Deshmukh, K., Houkan, M.T., AlMaadeed, M.A.A., and Sadasivunid, K.K. (2019). 3D and 4D Printing of Polymer Nanocomposite Materials: Processes, Applications, and Challenges, Elsevier.

[3]

Kabir, S.M.F., Mathur, K., and Seyam, A.F.M. (2020). A critical review on 3D printed continuous fiber-reinforced composites: History, mechanism, materials and properties. Compos. Struct., 232. 10.1016/j.compstruct.2019.111476

[4]

Shabbirahmed, A.M., Sekar, R., Gomez, L.A., Sekhar, M.R., Hiruthyaswamy, S.P., Basavegowda, N., and Somu, P. (2023). Recent Developments of Silk-Based Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Applications: A Special Focus on the Advancement of 3D Printing. Biomimetics, 8. 10.3390/biomimetics8010016

[5]

Ali "3D printing: A critical review of current development and future prospects" Rapid Prototyp. J. (2019) 10.1108/rpj-11-2018-0293

[6]

A Review of Stereolithography: Processes and Systems

Junxi Huang, Qin Qin, Jie Wang

Processes 10.3390/pr8091138

[7]

Grayscale digital light processing 3D printing for highly functionally graded materials

Xiao Kuang, Jiangtao Wu, Kaijuan Chen et al.

Science Advances 10.1126/sciadv.aav5790

[8]

Dumpa, N.R., Bandari, S., and Repka, M.A. (2020). Novel Gastroretentive Floating Pulsatile Drug Delivery System Produced via Hot-Melt Extrusion and Fused Deposition Modeling 3D Printing. Pharmaceutics, 12. 10.3390/pharmaceutics12010052

[9]

Kaierle "Development of a laser ablation process model and a disposable 3D-printed tool head for weakening thick steel sheets for the deflagration of hazardous substances" CIRP J. Manuf. Sci. Technol. (2019) 10.1016/j.cirpj.2019.04.006

[10]

von Freymann, G., Blasco, E., and Chanda, D. (2023). Advanced Fabrication Technologies for Micro/Nano Optics and Photonics XVI, SPIE.

[11]

Zhou, L., Fu, J., and He, Y. (2020). A Review of 3D Printing Technologies for Soft Polymer Materials. Adv. Funct. Mater., 30. 10.1002/adfm.202000187

[12]

Fafenrot, S., Grimmelsmann, N., Wortmann, M., and Ehrmann, A. (2017). Three-dimensional (3D) printing of polymer-metal hybrid materials by fused deposition modeling. Materials, 10. 10.3390/ma10101199

[13]

Liu "A critical review of fused deposition modeling 3D printing technology in manufacturing polylactic acid parts" Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Technol. (2019) 10.1007/s00170-019-03332-x

[14]

Moradi "3D Printing of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene by Fused Deposition Modeling: Artificial Neural Network and Response Surface Method Analyses" J. Mater. Eng. Perform. (2023) 10.1007/s11665-022-07250-0

[15]

Kotomin "Influence of 3D Printing Conditions of Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol on the Mechanical Properties of Products Based on It" Polym. Sci. Ser. A (2022) 10.1134/s0965545x22700365

[16]

León-Calero, M., Valés, S.C.R., Marcos-Fernández, Á., and Rodríguez-Hernandez, J. (2021). 3D Printing of Thermoplastic Elastomers: Role of the Chemical Composition and Printing Parameters in the Production of Parts with Controlled Energy Absorption and Damping Capacity. Polymers, 13. 10.3390/polym13203551

[17]

Radzuan, N.A.M., Khalid, N.N., Foudzi, F.M., Royan, N.R.R., and Sulong, A.B. (2023). Mechanical Analysis of 3D Printed Polyamide Composites under Different Filler Loadings. Polymers, 15. 10.3390/polym15081846

[18]

Vidakis, N., Petousis, M., David, C.N., Sagris, D., Mountakis, N., and Karapidakis, E. (2023). Mechanical Performance over Energy Expenditure in MEX 3D Printing of Polycarbonate: A Multiparametric Optimization with the Aid of Robust Experimental Design. J. Manuf. Mater. Process., 7. 10.3390/jmmp7010038

[19]

Hanitio, E.W., Lutfhyansyah, N.R., Efendi, B.M., Mardiyati, Y., and Steven, S. (2023). From Electronic Waste to 3D-Printed Product, How Multiple Recycling Affects High-Impact Polystyrene (HIPS) Filament Performances. Materials, 16. 10.3390/ma16093412

[20]

Mallakpour, S., Tabesh, F., and Hussain, C.M. (2022). A new trend of using poly(vinyl alcohol) in 3D and 4D printing technologies: Process and applications. Adv. Colloid Interface Sci., 301. 10.1016/j.cis.2022.102605

[21]

Ouassil "Effects of printing parameters on the tensile behavior of 3D-printed acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA) material in Z direction" Polym. Eng. Sci. (2022) 10.1002/pen.25891

[22]

Nematollahi, B., Vijay, P., Sanjayan, J., Nazari, A., Xia, M., Nerella, V.N., and Mechtcherine, V. (2018). Effect of Polypropylene Fibre Addition on Properties of Geopolymers Made by 3D Printing for Digital Construction. Materials, 11. 10.3390/ma11122352

[23]

Galeja, M., Wypiór, K., Wachowicz, J., Kędzierski, P., Hejna, A., Marć, M., Klewicz, K., Gabor, J., Okła, H., and Swinarew, A.S. (2020). POM/EVA Blends with Future Utility in Fused Deposition Modeling. Materials, 13. 10.3390/ma13132912

[24]

Kannan, S., and Ramamoorthy, M. (2020). Mechanical characterization and experimental modal analysis of 3D Printed ABS, PC and PC-ABS materials. Mater. Res. Express, 7. 10.1088/2053-1591/ab6a48

[25]

Polzin "Characterization and evaluation of a PMMA-based 3D printing process" Rapid Prototyp. J. (2013) 10.1108/13552541311292718

[26]

Gadagi "A review on advances in 3D metal printing" Mater. Today Proc. (2021) 10.1016/j.matpr.2020.10.436

[27]

Sampath, V.K., Silori, P., Paradkar, P., Niauzorau, S., Sharstniou, A., Hasib, A., Villalobos, S., and Azeredo, B. (2022). 3d printing of stainless steel 316L and its weldability for corrosive environments. Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 833. 10.1016/j.msea.2021.142439

[28]

Rajan "A review on various approaches of 3D printing of Ti-Alloy" Mater. Today Proc. (2022) 10.1016/j.matpr.2022.04.532

[29]

Hua "3D-printed porous tantalum: Recent application in various drug delivery systems to repair hard tissue defects" Expert Opin. Drug Deliv. (2021) 10.1080/17425247.2021.1860015

[30]

Baranowski, M., and Senkara, J. (2023). Mechanical Properties of Structural Components in Hastelloy X Joints Brazed with Ni-Pd-Cr-B-Si Alloy. Materials, 16. 10.3390/ma16031115

[31]

Pan "Additive manufacturing of tungsten, tungsten-based alloys, and tungsten matrix composites" Tungsten (2023) 10.1007/s42864-022-00153-6

[32]

AMCM (2023, February 19). AMCM M 4K Large Scale, High Productivity System for Demanding AM Applications. 1 Meter Building Height with up to 4 × 1000 W Laser Power. Available online: https://amcm.com/machines/amcm-m4k.

[33]

Malekjafarian "Investigation of Buckling Capacity of Metal Materials Manufactured by Laser 3D Printing" Procedia Manuf. (2017) 10.1016/j.promfg.2016.12.103

[34]

Jafari "Metal 3D-printed wick structures for heat pipe application: Capillary performance analysis" Appl. Eng. (2018)

[35]

Ramesh, R., Prasanth, A.S., Krishna, R., Koushiksundaram, K., Mozhiselvan, R.A., and Roy, A. (2020). Experimental and numerical analysis of compression behaviour of 3D printed metal foams. J. Phys. Conf. Ser., 1706. 10.1088/1742-6596/1706/1/012213

[36]

Kumar, K.P.A., Ghosh, K., Alduhaish, O., and Pumera, M. (2020). Metal-plated 3D-printed electrode for electrochemical detection of carbohydrates. Electrochem. Commun., 120. 10.1016/j.elecom.2020.106827

[37]

Woods, B.K.S., Yu, H.N., Longana, M., and Potter, K. (2023, May 26). 3D Printed Composites—Benchmarking the State-of-the-Art, University of Bristol. Available online: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/3d-printed-composites-benchmarking-the-state-of-the-art.

[38]

Khosravani, M.R., Zolfagharian, A., Jennings, M., and Reinicke, T. (2020). Structural performance of 3D-printed composites under various loads and environmental conditions. Polym. Test., 91. 10.1016/j.polymertesting.2020.106770

[39]

Yang, D., Wu, K., Wan, L., and Sheng, Y. (2017). A particle element approach for modelling the 3d printing process of fibre reinforced polymer composites. J. Manuf. Mater. Process., 1. 10.3390/jmmp1010010

[40]

Mark Forged (2023, February 19). High Temperature Materials—HSHT Fiberglass. Available online: https://markforged.com/resources/blog/announcing-high-temperature-materials-hsht-fiberglass.

[41]

Dickson "Fabrication of continuous carbon, glass and Kevlar fibre reinforced polymer composites using additive manufacturing" Addit. Manuf. (2017)

[42]

Vemuganti, S., Soliman, E., and Taha, M.R. (2020). 3D-printed pseudo ductile fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite using discrete fiber orientations. Fibers, 8. 10.3390/fib8090053

[43]

He, Q., Wang, H., Fu, K., and Ye, L. (2020). 3D printed continuous CF/PA6 composites: Effect of microscopic voids on mechanical performance. Compos. Sci. Technol., 191. 10.1016/j.compscitech.2020.108077

[44]

Baumann "Investigation of a New Approach for Additively Manufactured Continuous Fiber-reinforced Polymers" Procedia CIRP (2017) 10.1016/j.procir.2017.03.276

[45]

Mohammadizadeh, M., and Fidan, I. (2021). Tensile Performance of 3D-Printed Continuous Fiber-Reinforced Nylon Composites. J. Manuf. Mater. Process., 5. 10.3390/jmmp5030068

[46]

Krajangsawasdi, N., Blok, L.G., Hamerton, I., Longana, M.L., Woods, B.K.S., and Ivanov, D.S. (2021). Fused Deposition Modelling of Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composites: A Parametric Review. J. Compos. Sci., 5. 10.3390/jcs5010029

[47]

Khoo "3D printing of smart materials: A review on recent progresses in 4D printing" Virtual Phys. Prototype (2015) 10.1080/17452759.2015.1097054

[48]

Zhang "Developments in 4D-printing: A review on current smart materials, technologies, and applications" Int. J. Smart Nano Mater. (2019) 10.1080/19475411.2019.1591541

[49]

3D printing of ceramics: A review

Zhangwei Chen, Ziyong Li, Junjie Li et al.

Journal of the European Ceramic Society 2019 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2018.11.013

[50]

Mohammadrezaei, D., Moghimi, N., Vandvajdi, S., Powathil, G., Hamis, S., and Kohandel, M. (2023). Predicting and elucidating the post-printing behavior of 3D printed cancer cells in hydrogel structures by integrating in-vitro and in-silico experiments. Sci. Rep., 13. 10.1038/s41598-023-28286-9

Showing 50 of 92 references

Cited By

385

Manufacturing Continuous Fiber‐Reinforced Printing Filaments: Development of a Post‐Consolidation Unit

Daniel Beermann, Patrick Schiebel · 2026

Advanced Engineering Materials

Evaluating the role of printing orientation and infill strategy on 3D-printed PLA failure mechanisms

Denis Linardi, Elisabetta Monaldo · 2026

Engineering Failure Analysis

An Integrated Approach to Reconstructing a Damaged Plastic Component Using Reverse Engineering and Additive Manufacturing

Balázs Molnár, Gergő Sütheö · 2026

Machines

Hybrid Experimental–Machine Learning Study on the Mechanical Behavior of Polymer Composite Structures Fabricated via FDM

Osman Ulkir, Sezgin Ersoy · 2025

Polymers

MXenes: Properties, Applications, and Potential in 3D Printing

Donato Luca Palladino, Francesco Baino · 2025

Ceramics

Composite Filament Materials for 3D-Printed Drone Parts: Advancements in Mechanical Strength, Weight Optimization and Embedded Electronics

Antreas Kantaros, Christos Drosos · 2025

Materials

Enhancing Mechanical and Thermal Properties of 3D-Printed Samples Using Mica-Epoxy Acrylate Resin Composites—Via Digital Light Processing (DLP)

Velmurugan Senthooran, Zixiang Weng · 2024

Polymers

Color and Chemical Stability of 3D-Printed and Thermoformed Polyurethane-Based Aligners

Luka Šimunović, Sara Čekalović Agović · 2024

Polymers

Metrics

385

Citations

92

References

Details

Published: May 30, 2023
Vol/Issue: 15(11)
Pages: 2519
License: View

Authors

S

Syed Fouzan Iftekar

Department of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, P.O. Box 10, Kuala Lumpur 50725, Malaysia

A

Abdul Aabid

Department of Engineering Management, College of Engineering, Prince Sultan University, P.O. Box 66833, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia

A

Adibah Amir

Department of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia, P.O. Box 10, Kuala Lumpur 50725, Malaysia

M

Muneer Baig

Department of Engineering Management, College of Engineering, Prince Sultan University, P.O. Box 66833, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia

Cite This Article

Syed Fouzan Iftekar, Abdul Aabid, Adibah Amir, et al. (2023). Advancements and Limitations in 3D Printing Materials and Technologies: A Critical Review. Polymers, 15(11), 2519. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15112519

Advancements and Limitations in 3D Printing Materials and Technologies: A Critical Review

You May Also Like