Another name for 3D printing is Additive Manufacturing. It has the potential to change life, business and global economy. It has made mass customisation a reality. There are some complementary technologies such tissue engineering and bioprinting. In future, we will be able to produce heart and kidney.

In this technology, 3D design data is used to build a 3D object by depositing material layer by layer. Some make a distinction between additive manufacturing and 3D printing. In AM, industrial grade printers are used to print on a commercial scale. 3D printing (3DP) uses desk-top personal printers for prototyping and modelling. Mostly the terms are used interchangeably.

It is called disruptive technology. There is rapid and high rate of technology change. There is high social impact. It affects the economic value and has a high economic impact. In short, it transforms life, business and global economy.

A 3D product is fabricated using modelling software, say computer-aided design or CAD, a computer-controlled 3D printer and appropriate layering and printing material for the object. The layering materials commonly used are metal, plastics, ceramics, glass, liquids or even living cells and tissues in bioprinting.

In Japan, the first 3D printed objects were made in 1981. In 1984. GE, France filed a patent application for a process of 3D printing, but withdrew it soon. In that very year, Chuck Hull, a US engineer filed his own patent application. It was for the process ‘stereolithography.’ Here photopolymers printed in layers and cured by UV laser to create a 3D object. Chuck Hull is thus the pioneer in this area.

The technology progressed rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s. The technologies developed were inkjet printing, laser sintering and extrusion processes. In 2013, McKinsey hailed 3D as a disruptive technology. In the same year in Med Tech, a research paper from Morgan Stanley reported that medical applications topped the list of patents applied for.

In medical 3D printing, first a 3D image by MRI or CT scan is made which is converted to 3D printing software. It is then printed by using suitable material and by choosing appropriate printing technique. Lastly, there is post-printing processing.

There are over forty 3D printing technologies developed and in use.

3D printing is used in dentistry for creating 3D solid dental models, and implants dentures, crowns and bridges. Here oral scanning is used.

It is also used in orthopaedics and medical prosthetics. There are 3D printed drugs too. Spritam tablet which anti-epileptic is the first 3D printed tablet approved by FDA in 2015 in the US.