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| 3DP techniques | Materials | Advantages | Disadvantages | References |
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| Vat photopolymerization | Photopolymers, ceramics, composites | (i) High building accuracy
(ii) Fast building rate
(iii) Excellent part quality | (i) High shrinkage
(ii) Mechanical failure including curling and warping | [34–36] |
| Directed energy deposition | Metals, ceramics, polymeric, composites | (i) Supporting a wide range of materials
(ii) Fabrication of structurally graded materials with differing porosities
(iii) Allow the manufacture of tailored structures in the material | (i) Residual stress
(ii) The surface roughness of the fabricated part
(iii) Postprocessing is often tedious and increases the lead time and the cost | [7, 37, 38] |
| Binder jetting | Ceramics, metals | (i) Low cost
(ii) Suitable mechanical performance
(iii) Safe material | (i) Low resolution output
(ii) Not easy to operate
(iii) Cannot apply heat sterilization
(iv) Excess powder will contaminate the part | [2, 39] |
| Fused deposition modeling | Thermoplastic polymers, composites, low-melting temperature metal alloys | (i) Simplicity
(ii) Cheap cost and easy
(iii) Accessibility
(iv) Filaments are cheap and arrive in various colors
(v) Fundamental for thinner layers up to 0.1 mm thick | (i) Thermal degradation of ingredients
(ii) Discontinuous extrusion results in the formation of defects
(iii) Slow drug dissolution speed
(iv) The seam between layers is visible
(v) Poor adhesion results in delamination, causing pores and defects and reducing mechanical properties
(vi) FDM requires thermoplastic polymers, and most pharmaceutical grade polymers are not thermoplastics | [40–42] |
| Powder bed fusion | Polymers, ceramics, metals | (i) Components exhibit excellent mechanical properties
(ii) Support structures are not required in the SLS process
(iii) Produce high-quality metal components that are free of internal stresses using a wide range of metal powders | (i) An expensive process
(ii) EBM requires vacuum operation
(iii) The SLS process can use only plastic powders as raw materials
(iv) Material waste is relatively high, and harmful gases are released during fabrication in the SLS process | [5, 43, 44] |
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