4D Printing

What’s after 3D printing?

ASME IIEST Shibpur Student Section

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The Treatise

3 min readSep 17, 2021

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By Pritha Ghosh

A definition of 4D printing could be “The use of 3D printing to create objects that alter/change their shape when they are removed from the 3D printing. The aim is that objects made self-assemble when being exposed to heat, air, or water, this is

caused by chemical reactions due to the materials utilized in the manufacturing processes.”

How does 4D PRINTING work?

3D printing contains the instructions to print layers of material successively while 4D printing adds a precise geometric code to the process based on the angles and dimensions of the desired shape. It gives the shape memory and instructions on how to move or adapt under certain environmental conditions. 4D printing technology uses commercial 3D printers, such as Polyjet 3D printers. The input is a “smart material” that can be either a hydrogel or a shape memory polymer. Smart materials are given the attributes of shape change and are different from most 3D printing materials.

Current uses of 4D PRINTING

At present, the use of 4D printing technology in ultrasound scans allows, for example, to know more precisely the structural and functional development of the fetus’s nervous system.

In 2015, a medical team from the University of Michigan saved the lives of three babies with respiratory problems by inserting a 4D printed implant. This polycaprolactone device, designed to fit each patient, was designed to adapt its size to the child’s growth and to dissolve itself when no longer necessary. NASA has developed an intelligent metallic fabric with 4D printing technology. This fabric that is already used for astronaut suits due to its nature could also protect spacecraft and antennas against the impact of meteorites.

4D printing technology allows the manufacture of clothing that adapts to the body’s shape and movement. The USA military is testing, uniforms that change color depending on the environment, or that regulate perspiration depending on the environment temperature or the soldier’s pulse.

Image: Visualizing differences between 3D and 4D printing

How 4D PRINTING is beneficial?

It will be easy to understand this considering one example, let us assume that a trucking company has a warehouse where they store all of their shipping boxes. Whenever this trucking company receives a shipment of goods, they remove the goods from the boxes for delivery to their sites, and then they flatten the boxes to ship them back out to their departure point so they can be reused for other shipments. Now, imagine that this same company flips 5,000 trucks in a day. So, they have to hire 200 people to break down the boxes for shipment back out. At $10/hour, assuming a 7-hour working day, the trucking company is paying $14,000/day to these labor employees. So, by having boxes that flatten themselves

upon stimulus, such a company could save approximately $5million every year! And this is just one example of how beneficial 4D printing could be!

Conclusion

This new printing technology could one day lead to airplane wings that morph for take-off and landing, soft robots that can squeeze into and out of tight places, implantable biomedical devices that can maneuver through a blood vessel, and even organs for patients in need of a lung, heart or kidney. Although still in the research stage, 4D printing is set to transform the future.

References

The Treatise is the official Newsletter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), IIEST Shibpur Student Chapter. To subscribe to The Treatise to get articles about the latest developments in STEM that we’re excited about and learn about the developments that’ll change our future, click here.