Guest editorial

Citation

Bourell, D. and Stucker, B. (2010), "Guest editorial", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 16 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/rpj.2010.15616caa.001

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Rapid Prototyping Journal, Volume 16, Issue 3

This special issue contains eight articles selected as Best Papers at the 2009 International Solid Freeform Fabrication (SFF) Symposium held August 3-5 in Austin, Texas in the USA. The papers received highest reviews during presentation and were successfully peer-reviewed akin to all articles published in the Rapid Prototyping Journal. This year there were 99 presentations and nine countries were represented. It also marked the 20th anniversary of the SFF Symposium, which from the beginning has been a forum dedicated to presentation and discussion of quality research in the field of additive manufacturing (AM).

As Dave Bourell has been a Member of the Organizing Committee since the first conference in 1990 and meeting chair since 1995, and Brent Stucker has attended every conference since 1993, perusing the old SFF Symposium volumes is more a walk down memory lane than a technical review. In “the old days,” the papers on specific AM processes were compartmentalized into the inventing institution: to learn about 3D Printing, go to MIT; for SLS, come to Texas. That is certainly not the case anymore. The international explosion of commercial fabricators has resulted in both multiplication of research efforts and spawning of new topics and techniques. Many of the researchers who published in the SFF Symposium Proceedings in the early years have moved on to other technical areas, have retired or in a few cases are deceased. We recall, as perhaps some of you can, arguing with Dick Aubin of Pratt & Whitney over the future of our field. We are pleased that the Rapid Technologies & Additive Manufacturing Community with the Society of Manufacturing Engineers has seen fit to provide an award named in his memory. Every year was marked by disclosure of newly invented processes and excitement over their potential. The maturing of the field has fostered concrete demonstration, improved process understanding and modeling, application and extension.

The SFF Symposium has in recent years served not only as a dissemination vehicle for institutional research but also as a voice and initiator of AM activity on behalf of the research community. Last year’s successful US Roadmap for Additive Manufacturing effort (see this journal’s Editorial in Volume 15 No. 5) was the result of a lunchtime discussion of 15-20 experts at the previous SFF Symposium. The conference has begun recognizing an outstanding junior and senior researcher with International Freeform and Additive Manufacturing awards. It is anticipated that, in addition to recognizing outstanding achievement, this will provide a framework for celebrating past research development and for encouraging a new generation of future technology contributors.

Two of the 2009 Best Papers represent extensions of more recently developed techniques of ultrasonic consolidation (Stucker, Utah State University) and subtractive rapid prototyping (Frank, Iowa State University). The remaining articles deal with applications of AM, primarily in the medical area. These include use of fiber-reinforced composite materials in fused deposition modeling (Williams, Virginia Tech), pedorthosis construction for club foot correction (Gervasi, Milwaukee School of Engineering), design of an actively actuated below-the-knee prosthetic (Crawford, University of Texas – Austin), utilization of polymethylmethacrylate for patient-specific reconstructive surgery (Wicker, University of Texas – El Paso), metallic micro-mechanisms for medical applications (Cohen, Microfabrica), and assessment of deposition parameters on direct writing of human cells (Huang, Clemson University). This variety illustrates both the maturity of AM, and the breadth of topics discussed at the Annual SFF Symposium. We hope you enjoy these papers and we look forward to seeing you in August in Austin, Texas.

Dave Bourell, Brent StuckerGuest Editors