Table 2.

Summary of 3D printing technologies.

Method	Concept	Materials	X,Y,Z (μm)	Pros	Cons	Printers
I3DP SLS [54–56]	MJM PJM SLS	Powder, Metals, Ceramics, ABR, PP, PA, ABS	X:38 Y:38 Z:32	Multiple material Rigid and smooth Soluble supports High porosity designs Bio compatible Better XY resolutions Large library of materials	Expensive Bulky equipment	Multijet (3D systems) Polyjet (Stratasys) Pro X SLS 500 (3D systems)
SLA CLIP [19,57,58] UDP	UVLED Laser DLP CLIP	ABR, PDMS, Various	X:50 Y:50 Z:25	User friendly Moderate to high speed printing Inexpensive. Widely used Bio-compatible resins	Single material Manual processing Limited resolutions compared to i3DP Postprint processing	Pico plus 27 Asiga Form 2 Miicraft Autodesk Ember Carbon 3D
FDM [19,58]	Extrusion	AP, ABS, PET, PLA, PETG PDMS	X:400 Y:400 Z:200	Multimaterial object Simplicity Inexpensive Portable Wide range of commercial TP	Low resolutions Build roughness lack of transparent material	Makerbot replicator 2X Easy 3DMaker 3D Touch
2 PP [59–61]	Laser	SU-8	<1 μm	High resolutions Fast printing Hallow complex microstructures	Additional curing Proprietary material Time consuming	Coherent Mira 900-F) EnvisionTEC
3SP [59,62]	Laser	ABS resins Acrylic resins	X:100 Y:100 Z:25	Wide range of specialized materials Low surface roughness Durability Large print sizes	Limited resolutions	ULTRA 3SP

MJM: MultiJet Modeling; PJM: PolyJet Modeling; SLS: Selective Laser Sintering; DLP: Digital Light Process; CLIP: Continuous Liquid Interface Printing; ABR: Acrylate based resins; PP: Polypropylene; PA: Polyamide nylon; ABS: Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene; AP: Acetoxysilicone polymer; PLA: Polylactic acid; PET: Polyethylene terephthalate; PETG: Polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified; TP: Thermoplastic.