Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

3D Printing During COVID-19: Challenges and Possible Solutions

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Emerging Applications of 3D Printing During CoVID 19 Pandemic

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Bioengineering ((LNBE))

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the imminent collapse of medical supply chains across global economies at an unprecedented scale. Essential supplies such as personnel protective equipment (PPE), ventilator components, and face shields have witnessed a continuous rise in demand and eventually boost the role of 3D printing. Over the months following the spread of the pandemic, 3D printed alternatives of many medical devices were made more accessible to hospitals, mostly by community-sourced design and fabrication. However, with the high volume usage of additive methodologies, several challenges associated with the design, manufacturing, and deployment of medical products have now been brought to further attention. In this work, a systematic evaluation of such challenges along with few possible solutions are presented. The pandemic and its effects on the industry are introduced in the context of disruptions caused across the supply chains. The role of additive manufacturing to counter these effects is presented with an introduction of the technology itself. Employing 3D printed products to address the shortages of healthcare equipment are mentioned and visualized. Thereafter, a central discussion is followed on the issues arising from the shift in production methodology of such medical devices—from conventional manufacturing to additive one. The problems are highlighted by discussing two important types of COVID-19 related 3D printed medical equipments—mechanical ventilators and PPEs. Thereafter, few possible solution methodologies are discussed as case studies of two particular instances of having such problems. Finally, a conclusion is drawn to solve the issues raised using similar solutions followed by future opportunities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Attaran M (2020) 3D printing role in filling the critical gap in the medical supply chain during COVID-19 pandemic. Am J Ind Bus Manag 10(05):988

    Google Scholar 

  • Berman B (2012) 3-D printing: the new industrial revolution. Bus Horiz 55(2):155–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Busachi A, Erkoyuncu J, Colegrove P, Martina F, Watts C, Drake R (2017) A review of additive manufacturing technology and cost estimation techniques for the defence sector. CIRP J Manuf Sci Technol 19:117–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callaway E, Cyranoski D, Mallapaty S, Stoye E, Tollefson J (2020) The coronavirus pandemic in five powerful charts. Nature 579(7800):482–483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choong YYC, Tan HW, Patel DC, Choong WTN, Chen CH, Low HY, Tan MJ, Patel CD, Chua CK (2020) The global rise of 3D printing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nat Rev Mater 5:637–639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erickson MM, Richardson ES, Hernandez NM, Bobbert DW II, Gall K, Fearis P (2020) Helmet modification to ppe with 3d printing during the COVID-19 pandemic at duke university medical center: a novel technique. J Arthroplasty 35(7S):S23–S27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson I, Rosen DW, Stucker B (2014) Additive manufacturing technologies. Springer, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2113-3

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Goyal P, Choi JJ, Pinheiro LC, Schenck EJ, Chen R, Jabri A, Satlin MJ, Campion TR Jr, Nahid M, Ringel JB, Hoffman KL (2020) Clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in New York city. N Engl J Med 382(24):2372–2374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higgins R, Martin E, Vesperi MD (2020) An anthropology of the Covid-19 pandemic. Anthropolo Now 12(1):2–6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ishack S, Lipner SR (2020) Applications of 3D printing technology to address COVID-19 related supply shortages. Am J Med 133(7):771–773

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ivanov D, Dolgui A (2020) Viability of intertwined supply networks: extending the supply chain resilience angles towards survivability. A position paper motivated by COVID-19 outbreak. Int J Prod Res 58(10):2904–2915

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly B, Bhattacharya I, Shusteff M, Panas RM, Taylor HK, Spadaccini CM (2017) Computed axial lithography (CAL): Toward single step 3D printing of arbitrary geometries. arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.05893

  • Kenney ME (2013) Cost reduction through the use of additive manufacturing (3D Printing) and collaborative product lifecycle management technologies to enhance the Navy’s Maintenance Programs (No. NPS-LM-13-087). Naval Postgraduate School Monterey Ca Graduate School of operational and information sciences

    Google Scholar 

  • Liaw CY, Guvendiren M (2017) Current and emerging applications of 3D printing in medicine. Biofabrication 9(2):024102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Makowski K, Okrasa M (2019) Application of 3D scanning and 3D printing for designing and fabricating customized half-mask facepieces: a pilot study. Work 63(1):125–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manero A, Smith P, Koontz A, Dombrowski M, Sparkman J, Courbin D, Chi A (2020) Leveraging 3D printing capacity in times of crisis: recommendations for COVID-19 distributed manufacturing for medical equipment rapid response. Int J Environ Res Public Health 17(13):4634

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKibbin WJ, Fernando R (2020) The global macroeconomic impacts of COVID-19: seven scenarios. CAMA Working Paper No. 19/2020. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3547729

  • MIT News Office (2011) Printing off the paper: MIT research continues to push the boundaries of the burgeoning technology of 3-D printing. MIT News. https://news.mit.edu/2011/3d-printing-0914

  • Moein ST, Hashemian SM, Mansourafshar B, Khorram-Tousi A, Tabarsi P, Doty RL (2020) Smell dysfunction: a biomarker for COVID-19. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol 10:944–950

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mollenkopf DA, Ozanne LK, Stolze HJ (2020) A transformative supply chain response to COVID-19. J Serv Manag. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOSM-05-2020-0143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WHO. Newsroom (2020) COVID-19 significantly impacts health services for noncommunicable diseases. https://www.who.int/news-room/, Accessed at Aug 2020

  • Nikolova MP, Chavali MS (2019) Recent advances in biomaterials for 3D scaffolds: a review. Bioact Mater 4:271–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Novak JI, Loy J (2020) A critical review of initial 3D printed products responding to COVID-19 health and supply chain challenges. Emerald Open Res 2(24):24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ploch CC, Mansi CS, Jayamohan J, Kuhl E (2016) Using 3D printing to create personalized brain models for neurosurgical training and preoperative planning. World Neurosurg 90:668–674

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rengier F, Mehndiratta A, Von Tengg-Kobligk H, Zechmann CM, Unterhinninghofen R, Kauczor HU, Giesel FL (2010) 3D printing based on imaging data: review of medical applications. Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg 5(4):335–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sandhu K, Singh JP, Singh S (2020) Some investigations on the tensile strength of additively manufactured polylactic acid components. In: Singh S, Prakash C, Ramakrishna S, Krolczyk G (eds) Advances in materials processing (Lecture notes in mechanical engineering). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4748-5_22

  • Sarkis J, Cohen MJ, Dewick P, Schröder P (2020) A brave new world: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic for transitioning to sustainable supply and production. Resour Conserv Recycl 159:104894

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahrubudin N, Koshy P, Alipal J, Kadir MHA, Lee TC (2020) Challenges of 3D printing technology for manufacturing biomedical products: a case study of Malaysian manufacturing firms. Heliyon 6(4):e03734

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh S, Prakash C, Singh M, Mann GS, Gupta MK, Singh R, Ramakrishna S (2019) Poly-lactic-acid: potential material for bio-printing applications. In: Prakash C et al (eds) Biomanufacturing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13951-3_3

  • Singh S, Singh G, Sandhu K, Prakash C, Singh R (2020) Investigating the optimum parametric setting for MRR of expandable polystyrene machined with 3D printed end mill tool. Mater Today: Proc 33(3):1513–1517

    Google Scholar 

  • Stryker (2020) Medical surgical equipment. https://www.stryker.com/in/en/portfolios/i/medical-surgical-equipment.html

  • Swennen GR, Pottel L, Haers PE (2020) Custom-made 3D-printed face masks in case of pandemic crisis situations with a lack of commercially available FFP2/3 masks. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 49(5):673–677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tarfaoui M, Nachtane M, Goda I, Qureshi Y, Benyahia H (2020) 3D printing to support the shortage in personal protective equipment caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Materials 13(15):3339

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thierry B, CĂ©lĂ©rier C, Simon F, Lacroix C, Khonsari RH (2020) How and why use the EasyBreath® Decathlon surface snorkeling mask as a personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic? Eur Ann Otorhinolaryngol Head Neck Dis 137(4):329–331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tino R, Moore R, Antoline S, Ravi P, Wake N, Ionita CN, Morris JM, Decker SJ, Sheikh A, Rybicki FJ, Chepelev LL (2020) COVID-19 and the role of 3D printing in medicine. Print Med 6(11):1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Truog RD, Mitchell C, Daley GQ (2020) The toughest triage—allocating ventilators in a pandemic. N Engl J Med 382(21):1973–1975

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ventola CL (2014) Medical applications for 3D printing: current and projected uses. Pharm Ther 39(10):704–711

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker DA, Hedrick JL, Mirkin CA (2019) Rapid, large-volume, thermally controlled 3D printing using a mobile liquid interface. Science 366(6463):360–364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WHO coronavirus disease (COVID-19) dashboard (2020) Geneva: World Health Organization. https://covid19.who.int/

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support received from Mechatronics and Robotics Laboratory, IIT Guwahati. Moreover, the authors are also grateful to all the technical and non-technical communities for continuous monitoring of the issues raised during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, 781039, Assam, India

    Jyotindra Narayan, Sanchit Jhunjhunwala & Santosha K. Dwivedy

Authors
  1. Jyotindra Narayan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sanchit Jhunjhunwala
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Santosha K. Dwivedy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Product and Industrial Design, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, India

    Kamalpreet Sandhu

  2. National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Sunpreet Singh

  3. School of Mechanical Engineering, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, Punjab, India

    Chander Prakash

  4. School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lovely Professional Univeristy, Phagwara, Punjab, India

    Neeta Raj Sharma

  5. Engineering Product Development Pillar, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore, Singapore

    Karupppasamy Subburaj

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Narayan, J., Jhunjhunwala, S., Dwivedy, S.K. (2022). 3D Printing During COVID-19: Challenges and Possible Solutions. In: Sandhu, K., Singh, S., Prakash, C., Sharma, N.R., Subburaj, K. (eds) Emerging Applications of 3D Printing During CoVID 19 Pandemic. Lecture Notes in Bioengineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6703-6_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6703-6_10

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-33-6702-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-33-6703-6

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation