3D and 4D printing

3D/4D printing creates customized parts by depositing layers of molten substance. We represent it as follows:

Figure 12.10 – 3D printing

Before understanding how this innovative technology can augment IoT use cases, let’s understand these two technologies a bit more:

• 3D printing/additive manufacturing: 3D printing involves creating a 3D object by adding/depositing raw material in a layer-by-layer manner – 2D raw material is layered one over the other, thereby creating a third dimension. This contrasts with traditional manufacturing, where products are created by removing the unnecessary parts (subtractive manufacturing) from a block of metal, for example, by processes such as milling, grinding, drilling, and others.

3D printing brings advantages such as the ability to create complex objects that were not possible with traditional methods and no wastage of raw material (with cascading benefits of cost reduction...