Table 2.
Summary of all powder-based devices with miniaturized features.
| Powder-Based Miniaturized Device | Smallest Feature Size | 3D-Printing Technique | Material | Short Description | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Near zero-order release dosage forms (biomedical application) | 2.8 mm | PBBJ | Kollidon SR and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose | PBBJ 3D-printed water-soluble compound enabled a controlled drug released rate based on different ratio of the two polymers | [189] |
| Calcium phosphate powder-binder system for patient-specific implants (biomedical application) | 1 mm | PBBJ | Tetracalcium phosphate, β-tricalcium phosphate and calcium sulfate dihydrate | Ceramic bone substitute and scaffold for bone tissue engineering are tested with in vitro cytocompatibility testing | [157] |
| Drug delivery devices (biomedical application) | 1 mm | Customized PBBJ | Paracetamol, lactose, PVP K30, mannitol and colloidal silicon dioxide | Oval fast-disintegrating tablet for drug release is 3D-printed with accelerated drug releasing profile | [186] |
| 3D-printed fast-disintegrating tablet (biomedical application) | 1.4 mm | Customized PBBJ | Acetaminophen, methylene blue, colloidal silicon dioxide and polyvinylpyrrolidone | A fast-disintegrating tablet achieved fast dissolving properties | [190] |
| 3D-printed scaffolds with minimum (biomedical application) | 330 μm–1 mm | PBBJ | Stainless steel 316 | Various sizes, shapes and lattice structure designs are 3D-printed, evaluated process parameters, dimensional and mechanical properties | [171] |
| 3D-printed patient-specific dental implants. (biomedical application) | 0.5 mm | PBBJ | Nickel-based alloy 625 | Patient-specific complex metal partial denture framework | [181] |
| 3D-printed complex collimator device (electrical and electronic application) | 1.5 mm | PBBJ | B4C–Al composites | This highly dense complex collimator is found to be good for neutron scattering | [96] |
| Thick graphene-based electrodes (electrical and electronic application) | ~1 mm | PBBJ | Exfoliated graphene oxide powder | Porous graphene-based high-performance supercapacitor is 3D-printed with PBBJ | [213] |
| Graphene hydroxyapatite nanocomposite structures (electrical and electronic application) | 4 mm | PBBJ | Graphene oxide, hydroxyapatite nanocomposite | Graphene/HAP nanocomposite 3D-printed cylinder with 125 μm layer thickness proved to have excellent compressive strength | [214] |
| 3D electronic applications (electrical and electronic application) | ~1 mm | PBBJ | Gold, silver and copper | Conductive paths and other electronic components are 3D-printed for seamless integration with other electrical and electronic functionality | [200] |
| 3D printing of fractal antennas (electrical and electronic application) | ~2 mm | Metal PBBJ | Stainless steel | The complex inverse Sierpiński tetrahedron fractal antenna proved functional at two WLAN bands with 23% less material used | [201] |
| 3D-printed monolithic multi-emitter corona ionizer (electrical and electronic application) | 300 μm | PBBJ | SS 316L | Demonstrated the design, manufacture and characterization methods for 3D-printed corona ionizer | [52,203] |
| 3D-printed induced orthotropic functional ceramic (electrical and electronic application) | ~1–2 mm | PBBJ | Barium titanate | Ceramic-based device for generating piezoelectric response | [204] |
| 3D-printed patient-specific ankle-foot orthoses (AFO) (biomedical application) | 1.2 mm | MJF | PA12 | The 3D-printed AFO significantly improved the speed and stride length of the stroke patients | [108] |
| 3D-printed functional part. (industrial, mechanical applications) | 2 mm | MJF | PA12 | Demonstrated the capability of MJF, to printed functional parts with high accuracy | [128] |
| 3D-printed scaffold (biomedical application) | 40–400 μm | SLS | Polycaprolactone | Effective for cell attachments | [126,172] |
| 3D-printed porous Ti–6Al–4V scaffold (biomedical application) | 723 μm | DMLS | Ti–6Al–4V | Bone defect repair example of porous Ti–6Al–4V scaffold | [177] |
| 3D-printed scaffold (biomedical application | 0.5–1.2 μm | SLS | Ceramic-based material, | Bioactivity improvement, better properties | [173,174]. |
| 3D-printed orally disintegrating printlets (biomedical application) | 2 mm | SLS | Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and vinylpyrrolidonevinyl acetate copolymer powders | Orally disintegrating tablet with tunable drug release profile | [192] |
| 3D-printed macrocapsule for cell-based therapies (biomedical application) | 0.5 mm–1 mm | SLS | Alginate-poly-L-lysine | Microcapsule which can produce therapeutic proteins | [191] |
| 3D-printed electronic circuit carriers (electrical and electronic application) | ~1 mm | SLS | Copper powder | Selectively metallize PA12 surface to form electrical interconnects | [207,208] |
| 3D-printed thermoplastic polyurethane/graphene cellular structure (electrical and electronic application) | ~2 mm | SLS | Graphene and thermoplastic polyurethane | Porous structure which is both electrically conductive and flexible | [206] |
| 3D-printed filter (chemical industry applications) | 1.5 mm | SLS | MOF copper (II) benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate | SLS 3D-printed filters that can filter out precious metal from liquid | [198] |
| 3D-printed sandwich material for motorsport applications (aerospace devices) | ~1 mm | SLS | PA12 | SLS 3D-printed core structures rival the performance of common aluminum honeycomb sandwich material in term of strength and stiffness | [224] |
| SLS 3D-printed filter for gas separation (chemical industry applications) | ~2 mm | SLS | Brass and polycarbonate/nickel and polyamide/brass, solder and colophony/nickel, solder and colophony | SLS 3D-printed filter for separation of concomitant gases | [199] |
| Multi-perforated panels (industrial, and mechanical application) | 0.9 mm | SLS | Polyamide 12 | SLS 3D-printed panel for sound damping | [225]. |
| AM assisted manufacturing of bipolar plate in fuel cells (electrical and electronic application) | 1 mm | SLS, SLM | Fusion of titanium and gold, stainless steel | 3D-printed metal flow field plate gives comparable performance in mass transport compared to conventional machining process | [193] |
| 3D-printed complex implant structures (biomedical application) | 200 μm | SLM | Zn | 3D-printed, biodegradable Zn based metals cardiovascular stents | [178] |
| 3D-printed implant (biomedical application) | ~0.26 mm | SLM | Ti–6Al–4V | Biocompatible implant with porous structure for tissue regeneration | [175] |
| 3D-printed implant for lower jaw (biomedical application) | ~1 mm | SLM | Titanium | Customized implant | [176] |
| 3D-printed micro-bore columns for reversed-phase liquid chromatography (biomedical application) | 0.9 mm | SLM | Ti–6Al–4V powder | 3D-printed chromatographic column for separation of proteins and peptides | [194] |
| Rectangular waveguide for millimeter-wave application (electrical and electronic application) | 0.43 mm | SLM | Cu-15Sn | A mechanically robust waveguide for D, E and F band without post electroplating and assembling | [202] |
| Metal electrodes for electrochemical devices (electrical and electronic application) | ~1 mm | SLM | Stainless steel (316L) | 3D-printed electrodes as pseudo capacitor, oxygen evolution catalyst and pH sensor | [215] |
| 3D-printed metal electrodes (electrical and electronic application) | ~0.4 mm | SLM | Stainless steel | Helical stainless steel electrodes had been coated with IrO2 for pH sensor application | [212] |
| 3D-printed multiscale supercapacitor (electrical and electronic application) | 150–200 μm | SLM | Fe–Ni alloy | Well-arranged porous structure increases the specific surface area, which leads to a high specific capacitance of device | [209] |
| 3D-printed pure copper made for electromagnetic applications (electrical and electronic application) | 200 μm | LPBF | Copper | Electrical coil with various shapes and hollow centers is made and testing shows its potential to be used in electric motors, antenna and electromagnetic applications | [211] |
| Ion optics for electric propulsion (aerospace devices) | ~1 mm | SLM | Molybdenum, combinations of molybdenum and titanium | 3D-printed grids with sputtering erosion patterns are made and tested as electric propulsion parts | [226] |
| 3D-printed FGM turbine disk (aerospace devices) | ~1 mm | SLM | Spherical 316L stainless steel and Cu10Sn copper alloy | SLM fabricated 316L/Cu10Sn turbine that has higher hardness than conventional processes | [227] |
| SLM 3D-printed heat transfer devices (devices for other applications) | ~0.5 mm | SLM | Stainless steel, aluminum, Ti–6Al–4V, steel–nickel, Titanium, etc. | Customized 3D-printed heat transfer device for cooling applications | [228] |
| 3D-printed various lattice heat sinks device (aerospace devices) | 0.53 mm | SLM | Aluminum 6061 | 3D-printing process improved the efficiency of the heat sink. | [229] |
| 3D-printed various fin structures (aerospace devices) | 300 µm–1260 µm | SLM | Aluminum alloy (AlSi10Mg) | These 3D-printed fin structures are can be utilized in devices for efficient cooling | [230] |
| 3D-printer mesoscale flow reactors (aerospace devices) | 1 mm–2 mm | SLM | Stainless steel | Internal flow channel was demonstrated. | [231] |
| 3D-printed compact heat switch (aerospace devices) | 200 μm–500 μm | SLM | Ti–6Al–4V | Mesoscale hollow internal structures, operates at cryogenic temperature | [232] |
| 3D-printed high-temperature aerospace resistojet heat exchanger (aerospace devices) | 200 μm–800 μm | SLM | Stainless steel | Design, manufacture and characterization of a high-temperature resistojet for all-electric spacecraft | [233] |
| Manufacturing of glass with various shapes with micro/macro scale resolution (Biomedical, chemical, industrial, and mechanical applications) | ~0.5 mm | LPBF | Soda lime silica glass | High level of complexity of small-scale glass structures is 3D-printed opening possibilities for applications in chemistry, biomedical and decorative glass industries | [123] |
| Metallic implants based on laser and electron beam powder-based AM (biomedical application) | ~0.3 mm | SLM, EBM | 316L stainless steel, titanium-6aluminum–4vanadium and cobalt–chromium | EBM and SLM 3D printing enable mass customized implant at lower cost compared to conventional molding technique | [27] |
| Marine species tracking tag (biomedical application) | 1 mm | EBM | Titanium | A sharp tag with textured surface for easy penetration of marine species‘ skin for tracking purpose | [166] |
| 3D-printed disc biocompatibility test (biomedical application) | 2 mm | EBM | Ti–6Al–4V powder | Biocompatible disc for fibroblast cell culture | [182] |
| 3D-printed mesh for intercellular cell communication and osteoincorporation (biomedical application) | ~1 mm | EBM | Ti–6Al–4V powder | Biocompatible mesh for growth of mouse preosteoblast MC3T3-E1 subclone 4 cell line | [179] |
| 3D-printed anodized mesh structure (biomedical application) | ~0.5 mm | EBM | Ti–6Al–4V powder | Biocompatible mesh for growth of mouse preosteoblast MC3T3-E1 subclone 4 cell line | [183] |
| 3D-printed scaffold for cell culture (biomedical application) | 0.7 mm | EBM | Ti–6Al–4V powder | Biocompatible foamed structure for growth of mouse preosteoblast MC3T3-E1 subclone 4 cell line | [184] |
| 3D-printed scaffold for titanium implant (biomedical application) | 0.7 mm | EBM | Ti–6Al–4V powder | Biocompatible scaffold for osseointegration and angiogenesis testing | [185] |
| 3D-printed rough and porous dental implants (biomedical application) | 500 µm | EBM | Ti–6Al–4V | Dental implants facilities bone ingrowth and strengthens bone bonding | [180] |
| Repair of compressor blade (aerospace devices) |
0.6409 | PDMD | Inconel 718 | Compressor blade repairing using PDMD 3D-printing process | [222] |