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A review on the role of 3D printing in the fight against COVID-19: safety and challenges

Sapam Ningthemba Singh (Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Silchar, Silchar, India)
Vavilada Satya Swamy Venkatesh (Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Silchar, Silchar, India)
Ashish Bhalchandra Deoghare (Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Silchar, Silchar, India)

Rapid Prototyping Journal

ISSN: 1355-2546

Article publication date: 1 February 2021

Issue publication date: 2 March 2021

721

Abstract

Purpose

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the three-dimensional (3D) printing community is actively participating to address the supply chain gap of essential medical supplies such as face masks, face shields, door adapters, test swabs and ventilator valves. This paper aims to present a comprehensive study on the role of 3D printing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, its safety and its challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

This review paper focuses on the applications of 3D printing in the fight against COVID-19 along with the safety and challenges associated with 3D printing to fight COVID-19. The literature presented in this paper is collected from the journal indexing engines including Scopus, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, PubMed, Web of Science, etc. The main keywords used for searches were 3D printing COVID-19, Safety of 3D printed parts, Sustainability of 3D printing, etc. Further possible iterations of the keywords were used to collect the literature.

Findings

The applications of 3D printing in the fight against COVID-19 are 3D printed face masks, shields, ventilator valves, test swabs, drug deliveries and hands-free door adapters. As most of these measures are implemented hastily, the safety and reliability of these parts often lacked approval. The safety concerns include the safety of the printed parts, operators and secondary personnel such as the workers in material preparation and transportation. The future challenges include sustainability of the process, long term supply chain, intellectual property and royalty-free models, etc.

Originality/value

This paper presents a comprehensive study on the applications of 3D printing in the fight against COVID-19 with emphasis on the safety and challenges in it.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of human resource and development, Govt. of India for providing fellowship and financial assistance to the authors. The authors also would like to thank TEQIP-III for providing material, resources and financial assistance during the research.

Citation

Singh, S.N., Venkatesh, V.S.S. and Deoghare, A.B. (2021), "A review on the role of 3D printing in the fight against COVID-19: safety and challenges", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 407-420. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-08-2020-0198

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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