By ItsNotMagicItsScience

Innovation and change come in many forms.Yet the path from one to the other is not always the straight road you might imagine. Some are relatively easy to plot: advances in computer processors, for example, allow for more complicated machines and applications that can handle complex, multiple tasks quickly and efficiently.

Imagining how a new printing technology might help to conserve resources, lead to a reduction in fossil fuel use and increase greater streamlining and energy use is probably a bit of a stretch. But that’s the reality of three-dimensional (3D) printing.

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, isn’t new. It’s been used as a prototyping tool in industrial design, and in the automotive and aerospace industries for over a decade. What’s new are machines that go far beyond these early models with their ability to print in numerous materials, from plastics to metals and other composites.

The early industrial design models were mostly limited to printing in plastics. They were a useful and cost effective way to print physical versions of prototypes designed using 3D CAD (computer aided design packages) and to test them for real world aerodynamics.

Technologically advanced as it may be, there’s nothing revolutionary about using a machine to make plastic models. But, with the introduction of other materials, especially metals, 3D printers become an extremely interesting prospect.

Most of the current commercial models work through a process called sintering. The head of the printer fires a fine jet of powder in layers – it could be titanium, nylon or even stainless steel – which is zapped by a laser to make it solid and bond it to the layer below. The process is repeated layer after layer, rotating the object where necessary until it’s finished.

That means, unlike traditional manufacturing, there is no machining, no joins and no weak edges. For the aerospace industry it means titanium components that are stronger, lighter and having less wastage, leading to considerable cost savings. For the medical industry, it means implants and pins that behave much more like bone and have no machined edges or joins to rub against sensitive muscle tissues and nerve endings.

Research companies are already testing the limits. EADS in Europe has already manufactured a working bicycle and gloves and even a working cuckoo clock have also been printed by others. A printed Stradivarius style violin, fully playable, was featured on the front cover of The Economist newspaper earlier this year. Fully functional computer chips and processors are on their way, allowing complex items to be printed off in single units.

And while the things these machines can make are quite mind-boggling, it’s their potential to change the way we make things that is truly amazing. Traditional mass production insists that all items be identical because lathes, mills and robots have to be programmed and calibrated. 3D printing enables any unit to be custom designed, finished or tweaked, almost infinite levels of personalization.

On-demand manufacture means less waste, greater energy efficiency and close-to-zero inventory-holding. But the model also allows for decentralized production and resource sharing. Which means we could see an end to overseas factories and a vast reduction in the number of shipping containers being moved from port to port laden with consumer goods.

All of which could have a very positive impact on our gas and other fossil fuel management. By eliminating unnecessary international shipping and allowing for regional rather than national distribution networks we could see a future where the energy footprint of our household goods falls dramatically. And that can only be good for all of us.