3D Printed and Conventional Membranes—A Review

Abstract

Polymer membranes are central to the proper operation of several processes used in a wide range of applications. The production of these membranes relies on processes such as phase inversion, stretching, track etching, sintering, or electrospinning. A novel and competitive strategy in membrane production is the use of additive manufacturing that enables the easier manufacture of tailored membranes. To achieve the future development of better membranes, it is necessary to compare this novel production process to that of more conventional techniques, and clarify the advantages and disadvantages. This review article compares a conventional method of manufacturing polymer membranes to additive manufacturing. A review of 3D printed membranes is also done to give researchers a reference guide. Membranes from these two approaches were compared in terms of cost, materials, structures, properties, performance. and environmental impact. Results show that very few membrane materials are used as 3D-printed membranes. Such membranes showed acceptable performance, better structures, and less environmental impact compared with those of conventional membranes.

Influence of Thermal Annealing Temperatures on Powder Mould Effectiveness to Avoid Deformations in ABS and PLA 3D-Printed Parts

“…Mould effectiveness is measured as it is shown in Equation (5), with E being the mould effectiveness to avoid deformations in the length L during the thermal post process.…”

“…This technology is becoming widely used as a manufacturing process in both aerospace and automotive industries [4]. However, 3D printing processes present numerous challenges in its applications and clarify the advantages and disadvantages, and comparison with conventional manufacturing methods is needed [5].…”

Development of Nanocoated Filaments for 3D Fused Deposition Modeling of Antibacterial and Antioxidant Materials

“…Over the past decade, digital fabrication technologies developed using three-dimensional (3D) printing have experienced exponential growth [1,2]. Driven by the possibility to generate highly customizable products, 3D printing has found numerous applications ranging from healthcare to automotive and even agriculture industries [3][4][5]. The possibility to fabricate such customized products using 3D printing (also known as additive manufacturing) is based on the process of sequential addition of materials [1,6,7].…”

Effect of Process Parameters on the Performance of Drop-On-Demand 3D Inkjet Printing: Geometrical-Based Modeling and Experimental Validation

“…Where at the beginning only some metal, polymer or resin materials were applicable, nowadays range of different metal and metal-based compounds as well as many polymers are available. However, in comparison to conventional manufacturing techniques, the amount of materials available for 3D printing is still limited [9]. Further challenges arise in the mechanical properties of 3D-printed parts due to the layer structure associated with ineffective or faulty bonding at the interlayer interfaces [10].…”