3D printing. Environmental blessing or curse? Experts weigh in. http://ow.ly/ruVFv
I would say that the section explaining the process is too general and does not provide a good background for the information that follows it.
I’m curious as to where the stats for the electrical consumption came from. I can see that on a energy used to number of parts produced basis that 3D printers do use more energy. On an operation time basis I would think that the two process chains are not far off from one another though.
Plastic support structures do not have to be entirely wasted. They can be recycled to a certain degree. At the moment 3D printing, especially in plastic, is not posed to replace traditional high volume manufacturing techniques. Because of that I’m not sure you’re really comparing apples to apples. I’m not sure that 3D printing will ever replace traditional molding techniques either. Currently the only 3D printers that are really capable of producing parts of comparable properties to those produced by traditional methods are laser sintering processes.
The “toxic” ultrafine particles bit is extremely general and really not correct. UFP’s are not toxic per say. They may affect your respiratory tract. Additionally it depends on what specific material the UFPs are. Further, the number of UFPs emitted is comparable to cooking in a frying pan - granted if not vented properly the exposure time can become a factor. It’s tiring to see how many times that study was misunderstood.
The potentially toxic fumes come from volatile compounds in the plastics. These compounds can include substances that were added to the base resin to achieve desired properties as well as a small amount of unpolymerized monomer/precursors. Remember the polycarbonate/BPA scare? The mechanism is similar to that, BPA is a polycarbonate precursor. The kind of fumes release depend on the printing material. All that said, different 3D printing methods can have different types of UFP / fume hazards.
Thank you so much for the feedback @Ben_Malcheski & @Ashley_Webster I agree that this is just a simplistic overview. You both have given me a lot to think about as I am still new to subject. The stats for electrical consumption came from the Atkins Project: ‘Manufacturing a Low Carbon Footprint. Zero Emission Enterprise Feasibility Study’, discussed in Lipson & Kurman’s book. Thanks again.