Additive manufacturing is enabling on-demand fabrication of desirable polymer designs. Due to the technology’s widespread use, there is a need to ensure sustainable design approaches are practiced. Here, thermoplastics for fused deposition modeling is reviewed for life-cycle stages, mechanical properties, and design strategies. Life-cycle stages assessed include formulation, processing, applications, and end-of-life as well as recycling processes. Mechanical properties are considered for recyclable thermoplastics, with fillers to enhance functionality. Finally, design methods are considered to create mechanically efficient designs, such as metamaterials, that reduce material usage and processing time. The review highlights the great potential for creating sustainable designs with additively manufactured polymers, and their mechanical capabilities for broad applications.

Medical phantoms are models used for imaging and therapy, enabling research, quality assurance, and training without human test subjects. Their development relies on selecting tissue-mimicking materials, however the lack of a holistic overview to guide this process poses challenges. This work presents a comprehensive design catalogue for phantom materials, offering a structured overview of materials and their imaging properties for computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasound, including parameters such as CT numbers, relaxation times, and acoustic properties. It is implemented as a digital tool with filtering options, enhancing usability and decision-making. Despite limitations from incomplete data in the literature, the catalogue establishes a groundwork for a standardized, expandable resource to support future phantom design.

This paper provides a design solution to the existing problem of using eye trackers for large screens. Traditional eye trackers are limited to commercial and smaller-sized screens. However, as larger screens become increasingly popular and essential for various tasks, their impact needs further investigation in user performance and behavioral studies. This work introduces a design approach for adjustable guide rail system to make moving an eye tracker along with the user's head position possible. The testing results showcase robust, accurate and functions under varying real-world conditions, making it ideal for Human-Computer Interaction and User Experience Research. The Guide Rail design employed by this system is easy to manufacture and incorporates 3D printed parts making it easily reproducible and open for customization.

The ability to modify designs, personalize nutrition, and improve food sustainability makes 3D food printing (3DFP) an exciting emerging technology. Food materials’ complex chemistry and mechanics make it difficult to consistently print designs of different shapes. This research uses two methods to assess printed food fidelity: Manual and automated image analysis with custom-developed algorithm. Fidelity based on printed area was measured for three overhang designs (0°, 30°, and 60°) and three food ink mixtures. The manual method provided a baseline for analysis by comparing printed images with CAD images. Both methods showed consistent results with only ±3% differences in analyzing printed design areas. While the computational method offers advantages for efficiency and bias reduction, making it well-suited for fidelity assessment to assess designs.

Biodegradability is often framed as an intrinsic material property. By integrating industrial design and soil science, this research examines how material design can actively support ecological reintegration. Through a case study of Polylactic Acid (PLA)—marketed as sustainable yet resistant to breakdown in everyday soil—we challenge how biodegradability claims misalign with real-world decomposition. To address this, we designed and tested 3D printing filaments, using compost respiration analysis to show that microbial engagement depends on material composition and environmental factors. We then introduce decayability as a novel affordance that supports microbial activity. By extending affordance theory beyond human perception, this study establishes a framework for designing materials that mediate interactions between human fabrication needs and nonhuman decomposition processes.

3D food printing is transforming the food industry by enabling the production of customized, on-demand foods with intricate designs. However, achieving high shape fidelity remains a challenge for optimized food ink formulations. This study investigates 3D-printed foods with overhang designs using extrusion-based 3D printing. Mashed potato and pea protein were selected as base ingredients with varied water content to assess their differences in moisture content (70–87%), pH (5.66–7.06), firmness (0.52–8.12 N), and adhesiveness (0.29–2.73 N·s). Shape fidelity was evaluated by printing geometries with overhang angles of 0° and 60°. Results showed the best printability at a 1:4 ratio (81% moisture) for mashed potato and 1:3.5 ratio (78% moisture) for pea protein. These insights provide guidelines for engineering high-fidelity food inks, that advances additive manufacturing in food design.

This paper presents four new monolithic continuum robot designs that can be 3D printed in a single piece and with TPU or similar elastic filaments for either educational or experimental applications. Similar tendon-driven continuum robots are usually made of a flexible backbone (often in NiTi alloys) and rigid vertebrae, with tens of components in a robot segment resulting in time-consuming manual assembly and high costs. Conversely, the proposed designs achieve equivalent functionality while avoiding the manufacturing challenges. Additionally, by removing the need for coupled features for assembly and 3D-printing backbones and vertebrae as a single part, new geometries are possible and can be explored to tailor robot performance to specific requirements. To validate the proposed design, four sample prototypes have been manufactured and experimentally tested. The obtained results, when compared to the piecewise constant curvature model, demonstrate a 3.06% tip positioning error and limited reduction of the workspace area of 23.07%, which compares favorably to similar but more expensive and complex tendon-driven robots.

This is a case of a 6-week-old male with D-TGA and multiple large ventricular septal defects who presented with oxygen desaturations into the 60s. He had initially undergone palliative pulmonary artery banding at a different institution, for concern that patch closure of his large ventricular septal defect would compromise ventricular function. We decided to undergo 3D printing and 4D modelling of his heart to delineate his ventricular septal defect anatomy in preparation for their closure and arterial switch operation. A 4D CTA showed a large perimembranous outlet ventricular septal defect and a very large “swiss cheese” muscular defect. We then segmented the heart and produced 3D models of the diastolic and systolic phases and printed 1- and 1.5x-sized 3D heart models. The 3D and 4D models were used to evaluate all ventricular septal defects from both sides of the ventricular septum to plan their closure. The systolic phase of the CTA demonstrated near obliteration of the apical muscular ventricular septal defects. The patient underwent complete surgical repair at 4 months. The posterior septal, apical, and large anterior muscular ventricular septal defects were closed by bovine pericardium. However, the large perimembranous and inlet ventricular septal defects were closed with a single patch, sparing the intervening muscle band that was thought to contain the conduction system. From the models, the most distal apical ventricular septal defects were shown to close with ventricular contraction during systole. Therefore, apical exclusion of the RV was not required. Thus, this additional information enabled an optimal surgical approach to efficiently close ventricular septal defects in need of closure without futile attempts at closing remote ventricular septal defects.

3D printed orthomode transducer (OMT) integrated with a 3D printed lens antenna is presented in this work. The OMT integrated with the lens antenna covers the range of 54–80 GHz, the radiator can handle a fractional bandwidth of 38%. Fused filament fabrication printing process is used for the domed elliptical profile lens antenna and polyjet printing process is used for fabrication of the OMT. The simulated radiation efficiency of the antenna remains above 90% for the entire bandwidth and the structure shows a gain of above 16 dBi.

BioForms integrates sacrificial formworks, agent-based computational algorithms and biological growth in the generation of biodegradable internal wall panel systems. These wall panel systems are intended to minimize material waste, utilize local botany and generate a symbiosis between the artificially made and the naturally grown. This is achieved by utilizing local waste as a structural compressive core, mycelium as the binder, and recycled pellets as the architectural skin. Leveraging mycelium’s structural, acoustic and thermal properties, this exploration delves into unique methods of incorporating fungi and waste into architectural construction. The motivations for this research stem from the need to address the building industry’s contribution to climate change, by considering the lifecycle of our materials. BioForms aims to retrofit existing buildings by replacing foam insulation and MDF (medium-density fiberboard) wall panels with biodegradable and recyclable 3D-printed skins embedded with a mycelium core. Analysing mycelium’s reaction to BioForms I, the second iteration, BioForms II, evolves in design complexity and materiality. BioForms II explored robotically fabricated wood-based polylactic acid plastic (PLA) composite materials. Within the second iteration of this research stream, mycelia was both embedded within the compressed fabricated skins and on the external surface. Whilst BioForms explored the generation of biodegradable wall panel systems, the broader aims of this research is aimed at infiltrating biological matter into human-occupied spaces, completely omitting the use of synthetic building materials within the construction industry and advancing the architects relationship to nature in the generation of form.

The additive manufacturing of parts made from close-to-production materials poses a great challenge. One example are highly viscous silicones, as used in injection moulding. For small production quantities, the manufacturing of injection moulds is uneconomical. This paper presents tensile specimens printed with an in-house developed dispensing system, which are analysed for air cavities (micro-CT scans) and mechanical properties. Based on the results, advice for the design and slicing parameters of parts using high-viscosity silicones in AM by means of material extrusion are developed.

The growing use of additive manufacturing (AM) processes pushes research towards studying methods to reduce their environmental impact. The part build orientation is a significant process variable, which can be chosen through the Energy Performance Assessment (EPA), a straightforward method. The paper presents a method for identifying the best part build orientation considering energy consumption. The EPA has been adapted for this purpose, resulting in an approach based on four steps. The method was employed to determine the best printing direction for three parts and two AM technologies.

In the field of individualized medical implants for bone replacesment, additive manufacturing offers far-reaching advantages for bridging bone defects and supporting the production of natural form and function. The article uses the example of a large, customized cranial implant to show the challenges of manufacturing with osteoinductive bone cements. The process is shown, starting with planning and design, through to functional integration using adapted manufacturing strategies to create defined porosity.

The use of material extrusion (MEX) has increased rapidly due to the affordability of 3D printers. This has led to a growing demand for improved print quality, high fidelity, strength, or fast print times. In this study, a non-planar approach for better surface quality is investigated. The hardware of a 3-axis MEX printer was developed together with testing new software for non-planar slicing. The aim was to identify the most influential parameter combinations using design of experiments. A novel method for measuring surface quality was presented together with future research work.

In Fused Filament Fabrication, there is increasing interest in the potential of composite filaments for producing complex and load-bearing components. Carbon fibre-filled polyamide currently has highest available strength and stiffness, but promising variants are not in filament form. This paper investigates filament production of commercially available, high-filled PA-CF pellets by modifying a tabletop filament extruder. We show filament production is possible by improving cooling. The FFF printed specimens show an average UTS of 135.5 MPa, higher than most commercially available filaments.

The production of reusable gecko-inspired dry adhesives has traditionally been done with complex nanofabrication methods such as lithography and PDMS casting. This article presents a way of producing and testing dry adhesive samples using consumer-grade AM machines and equipment typically available in a Makerspace. The samples produced exhibit adhesive properties depending on the preload and surface structure, and we conclude that consumer-grade AM is suitable for rapid prototyping and testing of dry adhesion. However, it is limited by the scale and accuracy compared to traditional methods.

This paper examines how students' ideas evolve into physical prototypes within a digital fabrication design course. Examining the materials used, customization approaches, iterations, and team dynamics of 26 student projects reveals interplays between ideas, available tools, materials and constraints. Findings show the predominance of techniques, design preferences, concept refinement, and teamwork challenges. The implications highlight the value of hands-on iteration for alignment with reality and the need to support collaboration skills alongside technical prototype development.

In 3D printing, calibration is crucial for accurate prints, particularly those with complex or intricate features. This paper focuses on developing, manufacturing, and testing a benchmarking model to assess the dimensional accuracy of 3D printers. The aim is to evaluate the 3D printed model against a universally recognized real-world equivalent – a LEGO® brick – using its interlock function as a test with an engaging element. An interlock benchmarking framework aids further analysis of the model's performance, and a checklist for the model is provided for additional visual analysis.

3D printing technologies, such as material extrusion (MEX), hold the potential to revolutionise manufacturing by providing individuals without traditional manufacturing capabilities with powerful and affordable resources. However, widespread adoption is impeded by the lack of user-friendly design tools due to the necessity of domain-specific expertise in computer-aided design (CAD) software and the overwhelming level of design freedom afforded by the MEX process. To overcome these barriers and facilitate the democratisation of design (DoD), this article introduces an innovative, generative-based design (GBD) methodology aimed at enabling non-technical users to create functional components independently. The novelty of this methodology lies in its capacity to simplify complex design tasks, making them more accessible to non-designers. The proposed methodology was tested in the design of a load-bearing part, yielding a functional component within two design iterations. A comparative analysis with the conventional CAD-based process revealed that the GBD methodology enables the DoD, reflected in a 68% reduction in design activities and a decrease in design difficulty of 62% in requisite know-how and a 55% in understanding. Through the creation and implementation of this methodology, the article demonstrates a pioneering integration of state-of-the-art techniques of generative design with design repositories enabling effective co-design with non-designers.