<p>  </p> <p>3D printing techniques have been applied in many fields to provide a potential for complex fabrication, and photopolymerization methods are the current possible path to fabricate nanoscale 3D structures. Multi-photon lithography is the most common tool to reach below 100-nm resolution. These methods require femtosecond lasers to reliably create sophisticated 3D polymeric nanostructures using nonlinear photopolymerization of a light-sensitive resin. Though these methods provide high accuracy and flexibility in advanced fabrication, they are essentially limited by their cost and throughput. Therefore, in this work, multiple approaches were examined to develop new methods for one-photon nonlinear 3D printing. </p> <p>By controlling multiple competing processes in the radical polymerization scheme, a nonlinear photopolymerization effect is achieved using a one-photon absorption process with the assistance of inhibition radicals and controlled diffusion. This work makes use of this nonlinear response to fabricate 2D/3D structures using a continuous-wave diode laser, demonstrating a significantly more cost-efficient source for 3D nanolithography. In addition, a numerical model was constructed with the highly nonlinear response by actively controlling the consumption of the initiators with the assistance of these inhibitors, and it shows the same trend of nonlinearity from experiments. We use this model to study this dosage-based nonlinear response driven by the laser intensity in several 1D and 2D scenarios with different inputs and predicted the polymerization results in a confined voxel in the resin to support the observations from the experiments. Besides the demonstration of current one-photon nonlinear 3D printing, this work also involves some results of nonlinear response by operating local oxygen concentration and a two-step absorption nonlinear photoinitiator. These results help us to further study the potential of increasing the throughput of the one-photon nonlinear 3D printing process. </p> <p>In conclusion, a new one-photon-based dose nonlinear process is introduced in this dissertation to achieve nanoscale 3D printing with a low-cost-405-nm diode laser operating at milliwatt level. By controlling the activation and transport of initiating and inhibiting radicals, we achieve patterning of the nanoscale features at a high scanning speed.</p>

Published Article / This paper surveys the current state and capabilities of Three Dimensional Printing (3DP). Based on its technical background - the ink jet printing as known from the printer and plotter industry - a classification structure has been developed and proposed. Different printing techniques and process concepts, together with their advantages and limitations are described and analysed. A large variety of manufacturing applications such as rapid pattern making and rapid tooling using the 3DP process directly or as core technology, as well as further implications in design and engineering analysis, medicine, and architecture are presented and evaluated. Some research issues are also discussed. An attempt, based on the state of the art, to show weaknesses and opportunities, and to draw conclusions about the future of this important process wraps up this paper.

This dissertation in industrial design focuses on the gap between the context of design and the context of use. It aims to open up design to the layperson and investigate an active role for the layperson in the design of everyday products. Over the last century, the industrial paradigm has institutionalised and professionalised many practices, including product design. A binary spectrum of production and consumption has been established with distinct roles for the professional designer, who engages in production, and the consumer, who engages in consumption. However, this clear distinction has been blurred recently and the consumer, or layperson, is no longer involved only in consumption, but also in production. In this research I have explored and examined the participation of the layperson, or the non-professional, in design, which I refer to as lay design. It constitutes a shift for the professional designer from knowing what a future user would like to have towards knowing what a layperson would like to design, which is for most designers an unfamiliar way of thinking. I specifically investigated how the layperson can be involved in design through the use of so-called digital-physical toolkits, software applications where one designs in a digital environment and which outputs a physical product. Lay design is enabled by two developments: On the one hand, the creation of variable designs is enabled by computational design, and on the other hand, the fabrication of variable products is enabled by 3D printing. The two main questions that I focused on are: How will the roles of the professional designer and the layperson change when the latter engages in the design of personal products and how can designers develop digital-physical toolkits for the layperson to collaboratively create value and meaning? The theory that I drew on consists of existing approaches which involve the layperson in design, such as mass customisation, meta-design, and co-design, and I used the theory of technological mediation to analyse and discuss the mediating role of toolkits in lay design. I investigated the research questions through a series of studies, both analytical and experimental. For the experiments I took a constructive design research approach, which means that I engaged in the making of toolkit and product prototypes in order to obtain insights and an understanding of the subject. The main contribution of this research is a framework of lay design that consists of a set of principles and guidelines that enables the professional designer to develop digital-physical toolkits that empower the layperson to engage in the design of everyday products. Through the participation of the layperson in the design process, lay design constitutes value created by both the professional and lay designer, thereby eliminating the separation of production and consumption. The framework’s principles outline the basic ideas of lay design while the guidelines support the professional designer in the development of toolkits and their products in practice. Lay design is concerned with the layperson designing personal products and is therefore primarily self-serving. It deals with creating meaningful products by enabling the layperson to personify designs, meaning that the designed product cannot exist without its originator. This research established an understanding of design spaces and toolkits and of the roles the professional designer, layperson, and toolkits play. The implications of lay design concern the role of the professional designer, the way value is created, a shared accountability, and also the way designers are educated regarding the tool-sets, skill-sets, mindset, and knowledge.

In product manufacturing, assembly approximately represents 50% of the total work hours. Therefore, an efficient and fast assembly system is crucial to get competitive advantages at the global market and have the right product quality. Today, the verification of the assembly system is mostly done by utilizing software based simulation tools even though limitations have been identified. The purpose of this thesis is to identify when the use of additive manufacturing technology could be used in assessing the feasibility of the assembly system design. The research questions were threefold. First, identifying limitations that are connected with the used assembly simulation tools. Secondly, to investigate when additive manufacturing can act as a complement to these assembly simulations. Finally, to develop a framework that will assist the decision makers when to use additive manufacturing as a complement to assembly simulations. The researchers used the method of case study combined with a literature review. The case study collected data from semi-structured interviews, which formed the major portion of the empirical findings. Observations in a final assembly line and the additive manufacturing workshop provided valuable insights into the complexity of assembly systems and additive manufacturing technologies. In addition, document studies of the used visualization software at the case company resulted in an enhanced understanding of the current setting. The case study findings validate the limitations with assembly simulations described in theory. The most frequent ones are related to visibility, positioning, forces needed for the assembly operator, and accessibility between different parts. As both theory and case study findings are consistent in this respect, simulation engineers should be conscious of when to find other methods than simulation for designing the assembly system. One such alternative method is the utilization of additive manufacturing. The thesis outlines a number of situations where additive manufacturing indeed could act as a complement to assembly simulation. The authors argue that the results and findings to a large degree are applicable to other industries as the automotive sector is very global and competitive in nature and encompasses a large variety of complex assembly operations. A structured framework was also developed that could act as a decision support. The framework takes into account three dimensions that are crucial for the decision; (1) the assembly simulation limitation, (2) the context of the assembly and which parts are involved and (3) the possible limitations of additive manufacturing in the specific context. This impartial decision framework could help companies with complex assembly systems to know when to use additive manufacturing, as well as for which parts and subparts additive manufacturing is applicable. To increase the longevity of the decision framework, new improvements of assembly simulation tools and additive manufacturing technologies, respectively, should be incorporated in the framework.

Kärnkraftsverkens materialgrupp söker nya alternativa material som är nötnings- och korrosionsbeständiga samt koboltfria. Ett möjligt alternativ är ett koboltfritt, martensitiskt, rostfritt stål av vilket komponenter tillverkas genom 3D-skrivning. Dokumenteringen av egenskaperna hos detta material är ännu inte komplett. I detta arbete har en sådan legering, benämnd VRF, analyserats. Korrosionstester utförda på legeringen före och efter värmebehandling visar att materialets korrosionsmotstånd minskat signifikant efter värmebehandlingen, dock påverkar inte materialets uppbyggnadsriktning korrosionsegenskaperna hos materialet, då både kort- och långsidan ger liknande resultat på korrosionsmätningarna. Analys av mikrostrukturen visar att en betydande volym av materialet utgörs av sekundära faser, såsom nitrider och karbider. Ingen stor skillnad i sammansättningen av, eller mängden av, sekundära faser kunde ses före och efter värmebehandling av legeringen. Materialets hårdhet mättes i olika områden av både det värmebehandlade och ej värmebehandlade materialet. I det ej värmebehandlade provet var hårdheten förhållandevis låg, men homogen genom hela provet. Hårdheten i det värmebehandlade provet var högre, men var inte homogen, utan varierade mycket i provet. Orsaken till variationen i hårdhet och de oväntat låga värdena tros vara en ej optimerad värmebehandlingsprocess. Då materialet har en relativt låg hårdhet och lågt korrosionsmotstånd är slutsatsen från detta arbete att materialet behöver genomgå en mer optimerad värmebehandlingsprocess innan det kan vara ett lämpligt alternativ inom kärnkraftsindustrin.

Bone and cartilage constructs are often plagued with mechanical failure, poor nutrient transport, poor tissue ingrowth, and necrosis of embedded cells. However, advances in computer aided design (CAD) and computational modeling enable the design of scaffolds with complex internal michroarchitectures and the a priori prediction of their transport and mechanical properties, such that the design of constructs satisfying the needs of the tissue environment can be optimized. The goal of this research is to investigate the capability of additive manufacturing technologies to create designed microarchitectured tissue engineering scaffolds for bone and cartilage regeneration. This goal will be achieved by pursuing the following two objectives: (1) the manufacture of bioresorbable thermoplastic scaffolds by selective laser sintering (SLS) (2) and the manufacture of hydrogel scaffolds by large area maskless photopolymerization (LAMP). SLS is a laser based additive manufacturing method in which an object is built layer-by-layer by fusing powdered material using a computer-controlled scanning laser. LAMP is a massively parallel ultraviolet curing-based process that can be used to create hydrogels from a photomonomer on a large-scale (558x558mm) while maintaining extremely high feature resolution (20µm). In this research, SLS is used to process polycaprolactone (PCL) and composites of PCL with hydroxyapatite (HA) for bone tissue engineering applications while LAMP is used to process polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) which can be used for hard and soft tissue applications.

Habitat structure modifies the strength of predator-prey interactions, but it remains unclear how to describe the three-dimensional spatial arrangement of structural components in a way that consistently predicts outcomes. Interstitial space may provide a useful target for measurement, but most studies use only two-dimensional methods to describe 3D space, limiting their predictive power. Using a novel technology to produce identical components, this study tests whether the 3D interstitial space of oyster shell mimics modifies the ability of blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) to capture their mud crab prey (Eurypanopeous depressus) in mesocosms and a variety of reef-associated predators to capture tethered mud crabs in the field. To accomplish this, individual interstices were manipulated by changing either the orientation or internal shape of 3D printed shell mimics, representing possible ways natural oyster shells differ spatially on a reef. In mesocosms, 3D interstitial space strongly affected prey survivorship in both spatial arrangements, but striking variation in the ability of individual blue crabs to consume their prey in the Shape 1 structures was notable. Field tethering experiments mostly corroborated mesocosm findings, except in the shell shape treatment. These unexpected results were likely an artifact of differences in predation between field experiments and highlight the specificity of predator-prey interactions in structured habitats. Together, these results demonstrate that the 3D interstitial space created from the spatial arrangement of structural components can mediate predator foraging success independent of the widely studied density attribute, but these outcomes are further dependent on both predator and prey identity as well as individual variation. This study also identifies a potential target for quantifying the spatial arrangement of structural components and proposes that such a measure should be three-dimensional, capture both the size and shape of an interstice, and scaled to the specific predator-prey interaction in question.

ITC/USA 2015 Conference Proceedings / The Fifty-First Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 26-29, 2015 / Bally's Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV / Functionally testing missiles in the All Up Round (AUR), a configuration that consists of a complete system packaged in its flight worthy state, requires the use of test sets along with constituent conformal equipment for interfacing. During developmental testing, telemetry (TM) sections are integrated within an AUR missile. These test sets monitor TM unit performance while maintaining form, fit, and function; therefore, resulting in complete data confidence. Initiating TM functional tests permit a capability in verifying that TM sections have been integrated properly. Safety being a priority, in order to attenuate RF radiation leakage while providing repeatable test capabilities in the near-field, antenna couplers are fabricated as a shielding interface between the user and radiating source and a coupling interface between an AUR missile and the test set. Generally, antenna couplers are composed of metallic bodies which require machine shop fabrication. The process of getting machined parts can take up to several months which can delay delivery schedules. With the availability of 3D printing capabilities and methods in metalizing various materials, a novel approach to fabricating antenna couplers has been explored. The use of modeling Software Packages (Computer Aided Design and Electromagnetic Solvers) and additive printing play key roles in reducing the development cycle time while saving costs, decreasing weight, and sustaining performance. This paper will detail the efforts using 3D printing capabilities in the development and fabrication of an antenna coupler with several examples cited herein.

The desktop publishing revolution of the 1980s is currently repeating itself in 3D, referred to as desktop manufacturing. Online services such as Shapeways have become available, making personalized manufacturing on cutting edge additive manufacturing (AM) technologies accessible to a broad audience. Affordable desktop printers will soon take over, enabling people to fabricate / Engineering and Applied Sciences

Cell cultures provide researchers the opportunity to observe cell behavior in response to specific, well-defined environmental cues, leading to insights that enable better engineering design for tissue culture and other biomedical applications. Chemical and electrical stimuli have been successfully applied to cultured cells to approximate aspects of the dynamic conditions experienced in vivo. However, in vitro topographical cues have mostly been limited to static substrates that do not subject cells to the dynamic conditions they experience in vivo when tissue remodels during development and wound healing. Delivering dynamic topographical cues to cultured cells can answer long-standing questions about mechanisms of cell morphology changes. Such capabilities could also facilitate engineering of wound-healing matrices and nerve guidance conduits by promoting migration of cells and providing directional guidance to cellular processes. This dissertation describes the development of approaches for introducing in situ topographical cues to cell cultures and inducing responses such as neurite guidance and cell alignment. Both strategies undertaken in this work make use of multiphoton-promoted photochemistry to print and manipulate three-dimensional microscopic protein hydrogel structures. In one approach, a technique referred to as micro-3D printing, topographical guidance cues are printed in the proximity of cultured cells to guide the growth of cellular processes. By translating a tightly-focused pulsed laser beam through a printing reagent solution flooding cultured cells, features are printed that provide physical guidance to extending neurites from NG108-15 cells, a neuronal model cell type. In another approach, an innovative technique known as micro-3D imprinting is developed for producing micrometer-scale depressions on the surfaces of photoresponsive protein hydrogels. The impact of various experimental parameters on topographical feature dimensions is characterized. Micro-3D imprinting is used to introduce dynamic topographical changes on a cell culture substrate, demonstrating that NIH-3T3 cells, a fibroblast cell model, alter their morphology and alignment in response to the introduction of a grooved surface topography. This set of approaches introduces new tools to the repertoire of cell biologists for exploring the behavior of cells growing in a spatio-temporally dynamic environment, opening possibilities for studies of cellular behavior in conditions that may better reflect environments cells experience in vivo. / text