Abstract
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Most people might think the paper/forest industry may be struggling as everything goes digital, or that it is harming the environment with the removal of trees, but these assumptions couldn't be further from the truth. Generally speaking, it sounds like the paper industry plants more trees than it removes, drones are used to pinpoint the exact tree in the entire forest to cut, and there is nearly zero waste with a fully renewable material. The industry is as high-tech and digital as you can imagine, with innovation oozing from its grain. It's not just about producing paper anymore. Actually, it sounds like they are hardly focused on paper at all. Rather, this industry is focused on doing everything you could ever imagine with the natural cellulose and lignin materials, from wood. This obviously has entered our world with recent 3D printable wood filaments, but the opportunity here is far greater than just a few wood filaments—this world of wood is extremely interesting for our field.
I can foresee a near-term scenario where 3DP filaments no longer rely on synthetic plastics at all, but instead I believe natural and bio-based printer filaments may eventually dominate the market. These filaments can have incredible properties. They can be entirely renewable, dissolvable, potentially transformable, flexible/rigid on-demand, static/dynamic, vary in color, and much more. I think this is just the beginning of many industries entering the 3DP market from the materials side. It will likely not only be fused deposition modeling either. We are seeing an increase in new materials for stereolithography and selective laser sintering, which may likely follow a similar trend with alternatives to today's available plastics.
I also think this conference is indicative of unexpected industries that are seeing huge opportunities with the introduction of 3D printing and symbiotically creating new developments for the field. New paper-based applications like packaging, wooden consumer products, food-based goods, medical devices, or other cellulose scenarios could now be possible with 3D printing. This is not about printing objects, trinkets, or complex components, but potentially printing with new materials, in customizable patterns, with new unusual properties. For example, these applications can be adapted to print customizable papers, smart packaging, or dissolvable medical devices for the body. This may be seen in other industries that we had previously overlooked when eyeing the most likely candidates for 3D printing such as aviation, automotive, toys manufacturing, and/or prototyping processes. I believe many industries will have subtle and extremely novel applications for 3D printing that we have yet to realize fully, and, simultaneously, these industries will change the game with new materials and constraints that catalyze our notion of what the “+” can bring to 3DP+.
In this March 2017 issue of 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing, we have an amazing lineup of work that highlights the potential for new materials and new applications, including: metal printing with dissolvable supports, molten sugar structures, self-expanding biodegrading stents, printed pressure sensors for prosthetics, gradient transparency masks, and biofabrication of tissue spheroids.
A sincere thank you to all of our authors and their great contributions! Look for our next issue of the journal to be published in June 2017. As always, we welcome your comments, feedback and direct contributions to the journal—send your thoughts to us at: