Analysis
The additive manufacturing community, comprising small to large manufacturers, is providing critical personal protective equipment supplies (or PPE) to the medical industry during the COVID-19 era. Through forging cross-industry partnerships and sharing product designs, identifying new materials that could reduce the amount of time the virus lives on a surface, and ramping up production tooling to meet the needs of their suppliers, manufacturers are having an immediate impact on those working to fight the virus.
Additive manufacturing is an ideal testing ground for manufacturers to experiment with new or revised product designs for PPE. Once approved, these designs can be shared and mass replicated across multiple companies to assist in closing the supply gap.
- America Makes, a national accelerator for additive manufacturing, launched the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 3D Print Exchange. This partnership collects 3D designs for medical supplies to be reviewed, approved, and shared with additive manufacturers to provide safe PPE for medical providers.
- Carbon, a digital manufacturing company, was able to pivot their work to provide shields and swabs to medical professionals within two days.
Manufacturing teams are showcasing how quickly they can go from design to finished product using additive technology.
In addition to design, manufacturers are seeking to understand what new materials could be used to reduce a person’s exposure to the virus as well as rethink what materials could be reused, subsequently eliminating medical waste.
- Software and tech company SPEE3D created ACTIVAT3D copper that can be coated onto existing metal parts. Preliminary trials show that 99.2% of the virus was killed in 5 hours, while stainless steel (the traditional material used in hygiene environments) showed no reduction within the same period.
- Additive manufacturer ExOne has partnered with the University of Pittsburgh to create reusable 3D metal filters for respirators and other equipment. These filters are autoclavable meaning they can be completely sterilized before reuse. This solution would greatly reduce the amount of medical waste.
The evolution of the materials used in additive manufacturing will allow for speedier processing while enabling the design of more complex parts.
Production tooling is being used to create replicable molds that can be dispersed to manufacturers to produce PPE.
- Crafts Technology Inc. ramped up its production of CraftAlloy, tungsten-carbide core pin tooling, used in injection molding systems that manufacture the critical vials needed for the COVID-19 test kits. With re-dedicating their resources, they reduced their lead-time from up to twelve weeks to three weeks.
- Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility and Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are producing tooling such as custom molds for injection molding to allow for mass production.
Production tooling is allowing manufacturers to mass-produce and disperse healthcare supplies in little time.
It’s been three months since COVID-19 brought the U.S. to a halt. While not out of the woods yet, additive manufacturing is showing true promise that will continue to push manufacturing forward while supporting the medical community and beyond.