Military scientists developing new 3-D printing applications.

• Author: Insinna, Valerie

With the advent of cheaper printers and better software, the military's use of 3-D printing is skyrocketing. Scientists and officials involved in the services' efforts believe that troops may one day be able to make fully-functional printed objects even while on the battlefield or onboard a ship.

Creating printed models, prototypes or simple replacement parts is only the tip of the iceberg, they said. The services are experimenting with new substances and processes that could yield entire 3-D printed systems that have circuits, power storage and logic embedded in the object itself--although the fielding of such items is decades away.

"My dream is that we could print a micro-air vehicle ... [including] the electrical circuitry, the battery and everything in that micro-air vehicle, just take it out of the printer and operate it remotely," said Jaret Riddick, leader of the Army Research Laboratory's structural integrity and durability team in the vehicle technology directorate. He keeps a small unmanned aircraft on his desk to remind himself of that goal.

Additive manufacturing--another name for 3-D printing--is currently employed throughout many Army research facilities. Scientists are designing and constructing items such as printed parts for protective masks, holders for improvised explosive device detectors, medical prosthetics and explosives, said Army Chief Technology Officer Grace Bochenek. Researchers have also made 3-D printed batteries, antennas, fuse elements and wings for unmanned aircraft, according to the service.

In additive manufacturing, a component is built in a printer that deposits layers of plastic, metal, ceramic or other materials. Traditional manufacturing processes work the opposite way--by creating a smaller part out of a larger source material by cutting, grinding or drilling it down.

While some of the service's scientists are using established printing techniques to make equipment, others are hoping to push the technology even further. Army Research Laboratory scientists are at the vanguard of conducting the basic research to develop and test new materials and processes for 3-D printing, Riddick said.

"The desire here is to take this very new sort of technique, additive manufacturing or 3-D printing, that's normally been used for prototyping, and use it to actually manufacture functioning parts," he said. "There's a lot that needs to be understood at the very fundamental level to actually be able to make that leap."

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