Unit 45 assignment 2

Aligners and coke bottles

Aligners are dental appliances that are used to straighten crooked teeth by using gentle, consistent
pressure to put the teeth in the right position. To get the teeth into the desired position, several
aligner trays are needed. 3D scans of your teeth and jaw are used to create a set of aligners. Your
teeth feel a light pressure from each aligner tray. Your teeth's actual positions change and advance
as a result. You will switch to the next aligner tray after each smaller movement made by an aligner,
which will result in larger movements. This keeps happening until your teeth are properly aligned
and your smile is better. -Aligners

Are You Wondering If You Should Get Self-treated Clear Aligner Braces?
(southviewdentistrycharlotte.com)

Manufacturing aligners
Traditionally, individual casts of teeth moulds were used to create aligners. For each stage of
the treatment, orthodontists would manually modify these moulds, then plastic
thermoforming machine is used which would then create aligners for up to 48 moulds needed
for the treatment. Plastic thermoforming machine allows you to mould a sheet of plastic onto
an object while vacuuming the air out of the gap.
There are main two types of plastic thermoforming machines, for example vacuum forming
and pressure forming, vacuum forming uses heat and pressure to draw plastic sheets into its
final configuration. Once a sheet is heated and placed over a mould, a vacuum is used to
manipulate it into its desired shape and pressure forming the process of using air pressure on
a heated plastic sheet to form a mould or part that can have a lot of detail and texture is
known as pressure forming.
There are 6 steps that take place to make plastic products (aligners) using thermoforming. For
example, first we would make the sheet using any normal cast extrusion method, then we
would heat the sheet, then we would form the specific shape by stretching the sheet or any
other way of forming the shape required, and then we would cool the formed shape. Then we
could cut or trim the moulded sheet into individual units, and lastly you could print or
decorate as you wish.

Vacuum forming pros and cons

Pros
- Each unique vacuum formed piece can be produced relatively quickly, making it especially
useful for project
- Consistent
The vacuum forming process allows us to create consistent shapes and sizes across batches,
especially when using the same mould.
- Cheap:
The production cost of this method is lower than other types of production. Mould costs are
also lower, especially when using cheaper materials.
- Scalable:
Vacuum forming allows you to easily scale up or down your production and create new
components (or fewer components) as needed
- Recyclable:
Any excess plastic left after the vacuum forming process is complete can be recycled into
additional panels for use in future projects.
- Multipurpose:
The shape of the mould is highly customizable and can create different shapes of the product.
Prototype development:
Fast processes and low costs allow you to prototype your product quickly and efficiently.
Cons
- In some cases, extra costs may be required to finish components. This depends on what the
product is going to be used for
- When the product is scalable, you can only make a single part at a time, which takes time
and means that this process is better for smaller scale production.
- With this process, many products need to be simple, as complex designs can’t be
manufactured
- If there’s too much moisture getting into the product it can ruin the product by causing
unwanted bubbles.
-if parts are created with clear or light-coloured plastic, it becomes for debris from the mold
to show up in the final product
-if thicker material Is used it might wrap during the vacuum forming process, so it’s
important to stretch the plastic before using it
- If you don't make sure to create the right mould, your final product could come out with
flaws. If you don't catch any problems with your mould right away, it could mean that a lot of
your products will have problems.
Aligners 3d printed manufacturing process.
Firstly to print the aligner 3d the orthodontist will start by sending Align Technology
measurements for example the X-rays, and pictures of the patient's teeth then a 3D model will
be produced using the observations after being run through a computer programme. The teeth
on the computer-generated model are then adjusted to their final position by technicians.
SLA machine

To print the teeth 3d will use SLA process ,because its have been used many times before in
dentistry to create products, SLA will create the aligners by using The computer-designed
shape which is constructed by building up thin layers upon layers of resin using either light-
emitting diode or laser energy, then liquid resin is contained in a tank to create individual
layers that can be stacked to create aligners.
This stereolithography printed model Close-up view of layers printed using
three-dimensional stereolithography technology
from a digital scan will be used in the fabrication of a
dental prosthesis
Materials

The SLA printer uses thermoplastic to make the aligners there are around 7 types of matetails
in thermoplastic for example Acrylic, Nylon, Polypropylene, Teflon, Polycarbonate, Acetal
Homopolymer Polyoxymethylene, Acetal Copolymer Polyoxymethylene , Thermoplastic is any
plastic polymer substance that can be moulded which then can malleable at a specific
temperature before cooling and solidifying ,thermoplastic is really good material as it has
high levels of chemical resistance which make’s it a good choice for medical equipment and
other areas where protection from chemical exposure is required and it’s also reusable as it
can be remelted for future use.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages
One benefit of stereolithography is its speed, functional parts can be produced in a day, The
amount of time needed to produce a single part depends on its size and design complexity,
Stereolithography printing can take anywhere from a few hours to over a day,
Stereolithography prototypes and designs are strong enough to be machined and can also
be used to create master patterns for injection moulding or other metal casting processes.
It has very Smooth Surface Finish as ,SLA printer uses UV laser or transparent LCD with a UV
lamp under it to form a layer image on resin tank, In this process the resolution of LCD or
Laser is very high so which means the final part surface is very smooth.
It is very Accurate as it applies very thin resin layers for producing models or components
with incredibly realistic details and you can use computer-guided lasers which creates
complex prototypes and models, which enable manufacturers and designers to identify
flaws early in the process so they can make appropriate adjustments, preventing costly
errors and redesigns.
It’s very sustainable as resin can be reused and the product that are being created, there
prototypes that reveal design flaws can be changed. And Materials that haven't yet
hardened can still be used to make new components or models.
It’s Possible to create multiple parts that can then be connected in a more complex
assembly By disassembling complex designs into individually adjustable component parts,
this capability also facilitates design changes.
It can use more materials than just plastic resins for example now it can be used to join
metals or ceramic powders,To create precise component parts, the process can take the
place of expensive and labour-intensive machining.
It is possible to create products with texture for example Depending on how the material is
layered and constructed, prototypes can be made from various types of resins or layered
according to computer instructions to create textured areas.
Disadvtages
The process is very expensive, The photo-curable resin can cost any where from $300 to
$800 per gallon, An SLA machine can cost from $100,000 to $400,000.

It’s fragile as resins are the equivalent materials used in stereolithography, The parts that are
obtained that way are more delicate than the finished ones, stereolithography does not,
however, allow parts that can be used for mechanical testing to be obtained.
It’s not suitable for mass production because it can only be used to produce three copies of a
part at a time.
It’s difficult to make parts with enclosed and hollow structures as its challenging because
liquid could become trapped inside the enclosed body while construction is taking place.
It’s not suitable for outdoor application as it uses a UV laser to cure the resin, because the
parts are photosensitive, so they are not suitable for outdoor use.
Justification
3D printing is better then the tradition method because Traditional method (Vacuum forming)
is time consuming and expensive for example the process needs moulds to be facilitated and
can sometimes cost thousands of dollars for a single mould and take months to prepare
compared to 3d(SLA) which doesn’t require the use of mold, because It involves adding
material to the printing bed layer by layer which can take up to few days or hours depending
the complexity of the product,3d printing is also much more sustainable due to wasting less
material compared to Traditional method(vaccum forming) which uses a lot of material
besuce something the products come out with flaws,3d printing I also better because you can
print complex designs without any additional cost for example in SLS the leftover unsintered
powder acts as self supporting material which makes extremely complex geometries possible
compared to Traditonal methode,in traditional methode you can not produce compled desighn
besuce it’s expensive and time consuming so from this infromatin we can see that 3d is better
for example for a company to Crete the prototype moulds in aluminium usually required a
lead time of up to two months in some cases, but with Stratasys' 3D printing solutions, the
entire process is finished in less than a week this is roughly savid 90% of our time.

Reference for Teeth aligners infromation

https://decisionsindentistry.com/article/stereolithography-future-dental-fabrication/
3 Ways 3D Printing Can Improve Manufacturing Efficiencies | Engineering.com

Stereolithography advantages and disadvantages (protolabs.com)

Guide to Stereolithography (SLA) 3D Printing: How Resin 3D Printers Work - YouTube

Plastic toys
There are many way to manufacture plastic toys but here I am going to explain you
how to make plastic toys the traditional way for example injection moulding and how to 3d
print them for example using FDM.
Injection Moulding
Injection moulding is the most important commercial method for transforming thermoplastics into
useful products, A thermoplastic polymer is one that is malleable and can be repeatedly reheated
and reshaped, Thermoplastics can't be heated up again and reshaped once they have set in the
desired shape, Plastics are heated during the injection moulding process until they become molten
and soft, The melted plastic is then pushed through a nozzle into a cold mould under high pressure,
In the mould the plastic cools and adopts the shape of the mould , Then the mould opens and the
product is released once the plastic has cooled, the details like ribs and screw threads can be formed
during this process so the finished product frequently requires no additional work before being put
to use.