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An overview of additive
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DOI: 10.1177/15280837221114638
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flexible structures

Ajay Jayswal  and Sabit Adanur 

Abstract
Various types of additive manufacturing (AM) methods (also called 3D printing), and
materials have been increasingly studied in the field of additive manufacturing of flexible
structures such as fabrics, and flexible electronics. Polymer-based AM processes allow
the flexibility, rapid, and low-cost fabrication of complex geometries depending on the
types of materials used. The purpose of this review article is to summarize the major AM
methods, materials, and their emerging applications to additively manufacture the flexible
structures. In the AM methods section, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), and Selective
Laser Sintering (SLS) are reviewed for fabrics, and Direct Ink Writing (DIW) for elec-
tronics. In the Materials section, the manufacturing methods, chemical structures,
properties, advantages, and limitations of some of the widely used materials in three-
dimensional (3D) printing of polymers are reviewed. Third, the applications of these
methods and materials for fabrics, and electronics are covered. Finally, the associated
opportunities and challenges in 3D printing process of flexible structures are described.
The future research should be related to the exploration of combinations and devel-
opment of innovative materials, printing process parameters, detail study on improving
the properties, and hybrid 3D printing process.

Keywords
Additive manufacturing, polymers, flexible structures, fabrics, electronics

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA

Corresponding author:
Sabit Adanur, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Auburn University, 1418 Wiggins Hall, Auburn, AL
36849-5412, USA.
Email: [email protected]
2 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Introduction
The international standard ISO/ASTM 52900 defines additive manufacturing (AM) as a
“process of joining materials to make parts from three-dimensional (3D) model data,
usually layer upon layer”.1 AM methods are classified into seven categories: material
extrusion, material jetting, binder jetting, sheet lamination, vat photopolymerization,
powder bed fusion, and directed energy deposition.1 These methods are further classified
into sub-categories depending on the type of materials used and the process of material
deposition. The materials may be in the form of powder, filaments, liquid, hydrogels or
ink, and sheets.2 In this method of manufacturing, materials are added layer upon layer
forming a 3D solid object. A computer-aided-design (CAD) model is developed and
sliced into several layers by using a slicing software. The generated model is saved as ‘g-
code’ which is finally used by the 3D printers to produce the solid object. The schematic
diagram showing the working principle of AM processes using unit material is shown in
Figure 1.
The conventional manufacturing methods such as subtractive machining, casting,
forging, and powder metallurgy2,3 take longer time and produce waste. As a result, the
cost of fabrication and final product becomes higher whereas AM methods fabricate the
parts in a minimal time with little or no wastes.2,4,5 Another aspect is the diverse forms of
material availability, which is accelerating its applications in many industries and be-
coming an integral part of modern product development.4,6 AM methods are mostly used
in automotive, aerospace, textiles, pharmaceuticals, medical, tissue engineering, flexible
electronics, and sensors. This has increased the competition in the world economy.7
In recent years, AM methods have attracted attention to fabricate flexible structures
such as fabrics and flexible electronics. The main conventional methods of fabric pro-
duction are weaving, knitting, braiding, tufting and nonwoven manufacturing.9 Among
all these methods, weaving is the most common method, in which warp and weft yarns are
interlaced in a defined pattern. A particular fabric manufacturing method is used ac-
cording to the required fabric design. All of the traditional fabric manufacturing processes
consume a lot of time and generate wastes. This is one of the reasons that has attracted the
attention of the AM researchers. Similarly, the research on flexible and wearable elec-
tronics is fascinating. 3D printing has made it possible to integrate functional electrical/
electronic components into 3D printed products, such as sensors, and circuits. The
expansion of 3D printing has opened the way for exciting new applications, and op-
portunities. It has been possible to 3D print stretchable, flexible, and bio-compatible
electronic devices which can be adjusted over the irregularly shaped mounting surfaces.
In summary, AM has offered great potential and unique capabilities to fabricate parts with
multiple functionalities.10–13
This review paper is organized into different sections. In the Additive Manufacturing
(3D Printing) Methods section, the working principles and schematic diagrams, ad-
vantages, limitations, prospective applications, and summary of the three methods that are
the most widely used for 3D printing of flexible structures are described. In the Materials
section, the production, chemical compositions and structures, properties, advantages,
and limitations of the materials are presented. The Applications section is divided into two
Jayswal and Adanur 3

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of working principle of additive manufacturing process (Modified

after ref. [8]).

parts. The first part covers the application of 3D printing methods to produce flexible
fabric structures, whereas the second part includes the 3D printing methods to produce
flexible electronic structures. The associated challenges and future opportunities are
discussed as well.

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) methods

With the advancements of AM technology, its applications have been widely explored in
various fields. Different methods are exploited by the researchers, manufacturers, and
innovators. Some of the methods that are used in 3D printing of flexible structures such as
fabrics, sensors, and electronics are briefly discussed in this section. The methods re-
viewed in this paper are highlighted in Figure 2. FDM and SLS methods are reviewed for
3D printing of fabrics, and DIW for 3D printing of flexible electronic components.

Fused deposition modeling

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) method works on the principle of material extrusion as
shown in Figure 3. In this method, a thermoplastic polymer is melted and then extruded
through a nozzle on a build platform. The movement of the nozzle depends on the
program (g-code) generated by the slicing software for a specific design. The melted
polymer is deposited layer by layer and produces the three-dimensional (3D) object. For
structures having hanging parts, a water or chemical dissolvable support material is used.
Although the AM process produces near-net-shape products, sometimes, it may require
post-processing such as support removal, cleaning, and finishing. The post-processing
usually improves the properties and aesthetic of the products. Few examples of materials
which are commonly used in this technique are poly(lactic) acid (PLA), acrylonitrile
4 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 2. Summary of different additive manufacturing methods.

Figure 3. Schematic of fused deposition modeling (FDM) method employed to 3D print a cup with
support materials.

butadiene styrene (ABS), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polypropylene, nylon,

polycarbonate, polyether ether ketone (PEEK), ULTEM, glass and metals.14,15
The main advantages of this method are processability of a wide variety of materials,
low maintenance costs, no toxic chemicals involved, rapid production, overall tolerance
of 0.1 mm, and easy material change. The main disadvantages are surface roughness,
relatively slow process, restricted dimensions, appearance of voids and lower mechanical
properties.16 Some of the approaches to overcome these disadvantages are optimization of
3D printing process parameters and using polymer composite filaments.
Process parameters include layer thickness, raster angle, print orientation, print
temperature, infill pattern and density, and others. Durgun and Ertan16 found that raster
angle and orientation affected the surface roughness, mechanical properties, and pro-
duction costs. In particular, the build orientation exhibited significant effect on surface
Jayswal and Adanur 5

roughness and mechanical properties of the parts rather than the raster angle. Poor surface
quality caused by stair-stepping effect is generally seen in layer manufacturing processes.
Several studies show that a smaller layer thickness can bring lower surface roughness but
this can increase the production time.17,18 Chacón et al.19 investigated the effects of build
orientation, layer thickness and feed rate on the strength of 3D printed parts. They found
that vertical print orientation showed the lowest mechanical properties whereas on-edge
and flat orientations the highest. They also observed increase in mechanical properties
with increasing layer thickness and decrease with increasing feed rate for upright ori-
entation whereas the layer thickness and feed rate play insignificant role for on-edge and
flat orientations.
Several researchers investigated the effect of heat treatment on mechanical properties
of 3D printed parts. This method could increase the bonding between the layers and
rasters. Avila et al.20 worked on 3D printing of parts using different materials such as PC,
PMMA, and PEEK and investigated the effect of heat treatment at 90% of glass-transition
temperature on their mechanical properties. They found an improvement in tensile
strength of about 10 MPa for PC, 20 MPa for PMMA and a slight change for PEEK. Yang
et al.21 studied various thermal processing conditions in 3D printing of PEEK materials
and found that different degrees of crystallinity and mechanical properties can be found.
Kaynak and Varsavas22 examined the mechanical performance of neat PLA, glass fiber
(GF)-reinforced PLA, and TPU-blended PLA composites using injection molding and 3D
printing methods. They used twin-screw extruders and manufactured composite filaments
for 3D printing using 10 wt% of TPU and 15 wt% of GF in PLA matrix. Using the
filaments obtained, they 3D printed dog-bone specimens and compared their performance
with the dog-bone samples obtained from injection molding. They did not find significant
differences in their strength obtained from tensile and flexural tests. However, they
noticed that the elastic modulus values of 3D printed specimens were slightly higher than
that of injection molded specimens due to the stiffening action of the slightly textured
structure formed during 3D-printing.

Direct ink writing

Direct ink writing (DIW) is a 3D printing method based on the principle of material
extrusion as shown in Figure 4(a); it is also known as Robocasting. As its name suggests,
the material used in this method is in the “ink” form, which is highly viscous liquid, and
has the ability to retain its shape after deposition. Although it operates on a similar
principle as FDM, it has a major difference that it does not depend on drying or so-
lidification of deposited material to retain the shape when the ink exits the nozzle. A
different variety of materials or a combination of materials can be used ranging from
ceramics, plastics, and food to living cells. Hence it is an extremely versatile technology.
Post-processing such as drying, heating or sintering may be required to harden the printed
part and improve its mechanical properties.15,23,24
This printing method follows three steps: 3D design, generation of a path file for nozzle
and extrusion of ink. After the completion of 3D model in a CAD software, the 2D layer-
by-layer or 3D movement path profile for nozzle is generated and exported to the printer.
6 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 4. (a) Schematic of direct ink writing process23 (Reproduced with permission from ref.
[23]. Copyright John Wiley and Sons.), and (b) Different dispensers used in DIW process24
(Reproduced with permission from ref. [24]. Copyright Wiley-VCH GmbH.).

The nozzle moves in a 2D path of each layer generated by the slicing software and
deposits the ink layer-by-layer and subsequently builds the 3D object. Alternatively, a 3D
object can be printed directly by the movement of nozzle in three dimensions which does
not involve a layer-by-layer approach. This method demands specific material strategies
to hold the printed structure after deposition. The strategies are: (i) to deploy the intrinsic
properties of ink such as the facile oxidation and solidification of liquid metal filaments in
air, which can help maintain the 3D structures, and (ii) to fabricate 3D object within a
supportive matrix.13,25,26
Depending on the type of material, viscosity and density of ink, and particle size
within, the type of dispenser is selected to push the ink through the nozzle. Some common
dispensers available are pneumatic, piston, and screw as shown in Figure 4(b). Piston
based dispensers provide more direct control over the flow of hydrogel from the nozzle
than in the pneumatic dispensers due to the delay of the compressed gas volume. Screw
systems provide more spatial control and are useful for the applications requiring ink of
higher viscosities to be deposited through the nozzle. However, this method of dispensing
can cause a huge pressure drop at the nozzle which can damage the embedded cells.
Hence, the design of screw has to be revised in order to make the printing of biomaterials
possible.24
The polymers used for DIW often have limited mechanical properties and experience
fatigue under repeated stress, which causes limitations in their applications. This limi-
tation can be addressed by improving the hydrogel used. Gong et al.27,28 introduced the
concept of modifying the hydrogel used for fabrication by inducing a double network
(DN) structure for various combinations of hydrophilic polymers. The DN hydrogels
contained 60–90% water and exhibited a fracture strength of a few to several tens of
megapascals and high wear resistance due to extremely low friction coefficients of the
Jayswal and Adanur 7

Figure 5. 3D printing procedures of DN hydrogels: (a) DIW printing of AMPS network, (b) Curing
to get PAMPS network under UV light, (c) Soaking of PAMPS network into acrylamide solution,
and (d) Curing of PAMPS/polyacrylamide network.29 (Reprinted with permission from ref. [29].
Copyright 2017 American Chemical Society.)

gels. Yang et al.29 demonstrated a two-step method to fabricate a DIW object using DN
hydrogels as shown in Figure 5. In the first step, they prepared a 3D printable gel by
mixing N,N0-methylenebis (acrylamide) (MBAA), Irgacure 2959, Laponite RDS, sodium
2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonate (AMPS) and water in specific concentrations.
This ink was used to 3D print an object and then cure it with UV light. In the second step,
they mixed acrylamide, MBAA, Irgacure 2959, and water and cured the gel prepared.
After that, the gel prepared in the first step was soaked in the gel prepared in the second
step, and the fully soaked gel was cured again. With various ratio of polyacrylamide to
cross-linker, the compressive strength and elastic modulus can be increased to 61.9 MPa
and 0.44 MPa, respectively. Similarly, the maximum values of compressive and tensile
strength can be obtained up to 93.5 MPa and 1.417 MPa, respectively.
The ink formulation and printing parameters such as ink exiting speed, nozzle size,
dispenser moving speed, temperature, and external environment directly influence the
final product.
8 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 6. A typical selective laser sintering additive manufacturing (SLS – AM) set up.32.
(Reproduced with permission from ref. [32]. Copyright 2014 Elsevier.)

Selective laser sintering

Selective laser sintering (SLS) is a widely used powder bed fusion (PBF) AM technique
which uses powder form of materials. In this method, a complex 3D parts can be generated
by the fusion of powder material on top of each layer in an enclosed chamber using the
thermal energy supplied by a focused laser beam. Following the CAD model, the cross
section of each layer is scanned by using a beam deflection system (Galvano mirrors) and
then the successive powder layers are deposited having a thickness in the range of 20–
150 μm, and is monitored by a powder deposition system.30,31
Figure 6 shows the schematic diagram of a SLS-AM set-up. The SLS-AM system
contains laser, mirror scanner, roller, feed container, build cylinder and N2 atmosphere.
First, the powder is spread over the building platform by using the spreading mechanism
which consists of a slot feeder and roller/scraper. Next, the powder is fused by the
application of a high-power laser which heats it to a temperature below its melting point
such that the fusion occurs. After the formation of the first layer, the platform moves
downward depending on the G-code generated from the CAD model of the final product.
The role of scanner is to play to adjust the focus of laser on each layer and determine the
height of powder bed. The process continues until the final 3D product is obtained, and
allowed to cool down, and the un-sintered powder is removed. Lastly, the product is taken
out from the printer.30,31
The products manufactured by this method have high dimensional accuracy, which
depends on several parameters such as accuracy of the STL model converted from CAD
Jayswal and Adanur 9

Figure 7. SLS system: (a) Effect of laser power on the sintering process of powders, (b) Effects of
lower and higher laser power, (c) Hatch distance.33 (Adapted from ref. [33]. Copyright
2014 Hindawi Publishing Corporation.)

model, cutting into layers, machine resolution, beam offset, layer thickness, material
shrinkage, laser beam speed, laser power, temperature of working platform, and
hatch distance. The properties of the manufactured products such as surface quality,
mechanical properties, dimensional accuracy, and manufacture time can be adjusted
based on the printing parameters. Improved mechanical properties can be obtained
by improving the sintering between each layer and is dependent on the laser beam
density.33 There must be adequate supply of laser power to get a high-quality
product with better sintering between the layers (Figure 7(a)). If the supplied laser
power is not sufficient, the powder will not fuse together and in case of higher
energy, the products deform, and high dimensional inaccuracy is seen (Figure 7(b)).
Hence, the energy density is quite important to consider while working with the SLS
method.
Equation (1) represents the equation of energy density required in the SLS method to
print a product. It is defined as the amount of energy input per unit area.31,33,34
P d
ED ¼ × (1)
v:h h
where, ED is energy density, P is the laser power, ν is laser beam speed, d is laser beam
diameter, and h is hatch distance (Figure 7(c)). Hatch distance is the spacing between two
laser beams.
10 Journal of Industrial Textiles

The powder can be fused together following different binding mechanisms.30,35,36

(a) Solid state sintering: It is a thermal process which requires the heating of a
material powder to a temperature above half of its melting temperature ðTm =2Þ
and below the melting temperature ðTm Þ. The fusion of the adjacent powder
particles is initiated by the formation and growth of a neck between them when
the surface energy is reduced by the implication of temperature induced by laser.
(b) Chemically induced binding: This method is useful for ceramic materials. For
example, if SiC ceramics are heated to a very high temperature, partial de-
composition of SiC into Si and C occurs and Si combines further with oxygen and
forms SiO2 , which acts as a binder between the particles. This produces full dense
objects.
(c) Liquid phase sintering – Partial melting: In this method, a binder/additive
material having lower melting temperature is added into the main building
material having higher melting temperature. When the laser energy heats the
material to its melting temperature, additives melt first before the main material.
The molten additive materials attract the main material together due to the
capillary action which results in high density, rearranged grains of the product,
and filled pores between the particles. This makes a rigid object. This method is
generally used to manufacture 3D parts using ceramic materials.
(d) Full melting or Selective Laser Melting (SLM): This method is suitable for
metals and ceramics rather than polymers. In this mechanism, the material is
melted completely by the use of laser power. This results in nearly full dense
objects, good mechanical properties and prevents the lenghty post-processing
steps.

Some of the advantages of this method are as follows37

(i) It is one of the faster forms of 3D printing.

(ii) Support structures are not required since the parts are supported by the material
powder.
(iii) Multiple components can be nested within the powder bed to speed up the
production.
(iv) The resolution can be achieved to around 0.1 mm.
(v) By adjusting the laser power either less or high, different types of material
powders such as polymers, metals, ceramics, and glass can be successfully
sintered.
(vi) Various polymers have been laser sintered to manufacture the products such as
TPU, polystyrene (PS), polyester block amide (PEBA), PEEK, and blends of
polyamide (nylon), including glass-reinforced grades.

SLS has the following shortcomings37

(i) Due to the high cost of laser, the machine can be expensive.
Jayswal and Adanur 11

Table 1. Summary of different 3D printing methods.

Method Materials Principle Advantages Disadvantages References

FDM Filament form Extrusion Processable with a wide Surface roughness, [14,15]
of PLA, ABS, variety of materials, rather slow
TPU, PC, can produce multi- process, restricted
Nylon, material structures, dimensions,
PEEK, glass, low maintenance appearance of
metal costs, no toxic voids and lower
chemicals involved, mechanical
rapid production, properties
overall tolerance of
0.1 mm, and easy
material change
DIW Ink form of Extrusion Huge application areas Requires post- [15,25]
plastics, such as photonics, processing, low
ceramics, microelectronics, resolution
food, living advanced ceramics,
cells, micro fuel cells and
composites batteries, sensors,
and biological
applications
SLS Powder form Powder Rapid production, high Expensive, limitations [31,33,37]
of metals, bed fusion dimensional of thermoplastics,
polymers, accuracy, resolution requires post-
ceramics, around 0.1 mm, processing
and glass support not required

(ii) Limited availability of different types of thermoplastic powder materials to make

the parts.
(iii) The manufactured products may have porous surface finish which requires post-
processing.

In summary, the working principles, advantages, and disadvantages of the additive

manufacturing methods discussed above are presented in Table 1.

Materials
Researchers have explored various additive manufacturing (3D printing) methods. De-
pending on the method used, the required materials are selected. In this section, an
overview of the manufacturing, chemical composition, structure, properties, advantages,
and limitations of some of the widely used materials is presented. The materials reviewed
in this paper are highlighted in Figure 8.
12 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 8. Materials commonly used for different additive manufacturing methods.

Poly(lactic) acid
Poly(lactic) acid (PLA) is a biodegradable and renewable thermoplastic polymer that is
derived from starch obtained from renewable resources such as corn, wheat, rice, and
sugarcane.38,39 It has been extensively used in pharmaceutical and biomedical appli-
cations,40 electrochemical energy conversion and storage,41 packaging and tissue en-
gineering,42 fabric and fashion industries.14,43–45
Poly(lactic) acid is manufactured by processing and polymerization of lactic acid
monomers which exist in two optically active configurations: L (+) and D () isomers as
shown in Figure 9.46–48 The weight percentages of these isomers directly influences the
crystallinity, mechanical properties and degradation characteristics of PLA.49 If the
content of D isomers is less than 2% in the L-D blends, then a highly crystalline PLA can
be obtained whereas if it is higher than 20%, a highly amorphous PLA can be
produced.47,50 Hence, these lactides are mixed in an appropriate proportion to produce
either semi-crystalline PLLA (poly-L-lactic acid) or amorphous PDLA (poly-D-lactic
acid) by a ring opening polymerization process.
The lower glass transition temperature (Tg = 60–65°C), melting temperature (Tm =
170–180°C), lower coefficient of thermal expansion,40 and non-adherence to the printing
surface makes it a suitable candidate for 3D printing purposes.39,51 Its production
consumes carbon dioxide52,53 and does not produce toxic or carcinogenic effects.52 It
requires 25–55% less energy to produce than petroleum-based products.54 The end
products made of PLA have high strength and high stiffness. It is relatively easy to print
without warping and its mechanical properties depend on the printing parameters and
geometries.14,55 However, the properties such as low thermal stability, high degradation
rate during processing, brittle in nature with less than 10% elongation at break,54,56 low
Jayswal and Adanur 13

Figure 9. Chemical structure of L and D isomers of lactic acid (a) and high molecular weight PLA
formed by ring opening polymerization (b).47

toughness and moisture sensitivity limit its applications.51,57 Soft PLA (PLA + softener)
provides better elongation-at-break properties (up to 200%).58 It is a potential candidate
because of its availability, low cost, and lower printing temperature; it can also be used to
make dimensionally accurate parts, with printing details down to 0.8 mm and minimum
features down to 1.2 mm.59 Therefore, it is suited for parts with fine details.
Figure 10 shows the Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) curve of a 3D printed
PLA material exhibiting the first heating cycle, cooling cycle and second heating cycle for
exothermic process in an upward direction. The spectra determines important features of
semi-crystalline thermoplastic PLA, such as glass transition temperature Tg , exothermic
cold crystallization temperature Tcc and associated enthalpy ΔHc, endothermic melting
temperature Tm and enthalpy ΔHm.39 The sample is first heated from 40°C to 200°C and
then cooled from 200°C to 40°C at heating and cooling rates of both 10°C/min.60 Cold
crystallization peaks are visible when the polymer chains do not get enough time to fully
get ordered. It is seen after the glass transition temperature when the chains get chance to
move and get ordered. Crystallization peak is visible during the cooling cycle which
happens due to the polymer chain mobility and ordering in the PLA material.61
Sometimes, first heating cycle is performed to remove the thermal history pre-existing
on the sample.62,63 During the second heating cycle, two endothermic melting peaks (as
observed in Ref. [64]) can be seen at ∼158°C and ∼166°C which has been formed due to
the presence of multiple crystalline states (α’ and α) of PLA during thermal cycling.39,65,66
The first peak present at the lower temperature is associated with the melting of the α0
crystalline state and its recrystallization into the α form, whereas the second peak at higher
temperature is related to the melting of the α state. Hence, the melting of the α0 form and its
recrystallization into α form can be said as the α0–α phase transition.66

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) is a popular thermoplastic material in 3D printing
which is formed by a systematic polymerization of monomers of 15–35% acrylonitrile
(A), 5–30% butadiene (B) and 40–60% styrene (S).67 The chemical structures of these
monomers are shown in Figure 11.68 Two different phases of ABS terpolymer exist: a
continuous phase of styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) and a dispersed phase of polybutadiene
as shown in Figure 12.69
14 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 10. DSC curve of a 3D printed PLA showing the first heating cycle, cooling cycle and
second heating cycle.

ABS is low cost and is used to fabricate lightweight, rigid and molded products.70 It
has good dimensional stability, impact strength, abrasion resistance, low coefficient of
thermal expansion and can withstand many chemical reagents.69 In addition, it is easy to
shape but tough to break, as it melts and becomes pliable when heated at 220°C; then, it
sets quickly which makes it suitable for 3D printing.14 The matrix composition, molecular
mass, type of rubber, rubber particle size, grafted rubber structure, additive content,
volume ratio of rubber to SAN phase determines the properties of ABS. For example, the
optimized impact strength can be achieved by controlling the rubber particle size, its
distribution and micro-structure. It is hydrophobic and shows an absorption of up to 1.5%
of water upon storage in aqueous media due to the presence of residual emulsifier and the
polarity of the nitrile side groups.69 It has a elongation at break in the range of 3–20% and
flexural strength up to 48–110 MPa.8,71 It has the following limitations:

(a) It does not attach satisfactorily to cold print beds. This results in the distorted
products. Hence, it is suggested to keep the bed heated to at least 120°C.14
(b) Fumes are produced when this filament is melted during extrusion in the nozzle,
which is not safe to breathe. That’s why the printer should be kept in a well-
ventilated area.
(c) It gets fractured by UV radiation if it is used for a long time in the sun.

Thermoplastic polyurethane
Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) is a biocompatible, biodegradable and linear seg-
mented block copolymer,72,73 which is synthesized by the reaction of polyols with al-
iphatic or aromatic diisocyanates. The polyols may be ether-, ester-, and carbonate-based
diols with average molecular weight in the range of 1000–3000 g/mol. These polyols form
Jayswal and Adanur 15

Figure 11. Monomer units constituting the ABS filament.68

Figure 12. Chemical structure of ABS: SAN phase of ABS (a), Butadiene rubber phase of ABS
(b).69

the soft segments of the material whereas the diisocyanates such as diphenylmethane-4.4-
diisocyanate (MDI) make the hard segments of TPU by addition of a chain extender such
as butanediol. The soft segment interconnects two hard segments and the hard segments
are bonded together with the presence of hydrogen bonds and form physical
crosslinks.74–76 The chemical structure of the materials showing the hard segments and
soft segments are shown in Figure 13. Its properties vary from being a high-performance
elastomer to tough thermoplastic polymer.77,78 It gets its rigidity and hardness from HS
domains whereas the flexibility and elastomeric behavior is gained from SS domains.79It
is used for high tensile strength, abrasion resistance, tear resistance, low temperature
flexibility and high versatility in chemical structures.74 It can be used in several appli-
cations such as textile, footwear industry, tubing, biomaterials, and adhesives.
Thermoplastic polyurethane’s easy printability has made it a good candidate to be
explored for 3D printing. It provides high flexibility, and strength to the final products.
Like most of elastomers, it is melt-processable, recyclable, and elastic. It can be processed
by compression, blow, and injection molding and extrusion, which is the basis for fused
deposition modeling (FDM) method of 3D printing.80 It possesses the elasticity of
vulcanized rubber as well as the processability of thermoplastics and it can be as soft as
16 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 13. (a) Chemical structure of TPU consisting of hard and soft segments, (b) Schematic
structure of TPU.76 (Reproduced with permission from ref. [76]. Copyright 2017 John Wiley and
Sons.)

rubber or as hard as rigid plastic; thus, TPU bridges the gap between rubber and plastic.81
TPU suffers from the following limitations:

(a) Its production is highly dependent on non-renewable fossil-based polyols and

isocyanates. The gradual exhaustion of conventional fossil fuels makes its ap-
plications limited unless it is produced from renewable sources.82
(b) It has lower thermal stability and mechanical strength.83

Poly(vinyl) alcohol
Polyvinyl alcohols (PVA) are non-toxic, water-soluble, bio-degradable, bio-compatible,
semi-crystalline, and synthetic polymers which are prepared by polymerizing vinyl
acetate following the hydrolysis or partial hydrolysis methods.84,85 Therefore, it can be
classified into two groups; fully hydrolyzed PVA (FH-PVA) (1–2 mol% acetate groups)
and partially hydrolyzed (PH-PVA) (10–15 mol% acetate groups).86The chemical
structures of PH-PVA and FH-PVA are shown in Figure 14.87 FH-PVA has the higher
chemical stability, water resistance, and excellent physical and mechanical properties,
which have led to its wide use, especially in the textile industry.88,89 PH-PVA is used in
packaging for bleaches, bath salts, insecticides, and disinfectants.86 The properties of PVA
are highly dependent on the degree of hydrolysis under acidic or alkaline conditions and
the length of vinyl acetate polymer. These properties are molecular weight, solubility,
flexibility, strength, and adhesiveness. It is an odorless, tasteless, translucent, white or
cream-colored granular powder.90
The thermoplastic PVA has a glass transition temperature of Tg = 34°C, melt tem-
perature of 174–178°C, density of ρ ¼ 1:27gm=cm3 ,91,92 and printing temperature of
190–220°C, which makes it a suitable candidate to be used in 3D printing. It has ad-
hesiveness, water solubility property, and similar extruding temperature as PLA which is
why many researchers use it as a support material with PLA being the polymer matrix. It
provides flexibility to print support structures and rafts in complex components and
Jayswal and Adanur 17

Figure 14. Chemical structure of PVA: partially hydrolyzed (a), and fully hydrolyzed (b).87

prototypes.93,94 PVA has been extensively used in textile and paper industries,87 phar-
maceutical industries,95,96 and tissue engineering.97 A few limitations of this polymer are:

(a) Storage: Since PVA is hydrophilic in nature, it has a tendency of absorbing any
form of moisture even from air and the final print can bubble or crack, degrading
the final quality and strength.98
(b) Expensive: It is expensive in comparison with most typical polymeric filaments.
It costs around two or three times as much as PLA or ABS filaments.98
(c) Clogging and oozing: Sometimes PVA can clog the nozzle. If the temperature is
set too high or even the nozzle if left idle for too long, then it will ooze or degrade
inside the nozzle and clog it. To avoid this problem, it is recommended to use ooze
shield for constant cooling of nozzle during the printing process. It is also
suggested to remove any unused PVA from the printer when it isnot in use to
protect it from the exposure to humid air.98
(d) It does not have cell-adhesive property.99

Poly(ethylene) glycol
Poly(ethylene) glycol (PEG) is also known as polyethylene oxide (PEO), polyoxy-
ethylene (POE), and polyoxirane.100 It is a linear or branched, neutral polyether, available
in a variety of molecular weights (MWs) from 200 to tens of thousands, and soluble in
water, toluene, methylene chloride, and most organic solvents. It is insoluble in ethyl
ether, hexane, and ethylene glycol. PEGs having MW less than 1000 are viscous, colorless
liquids, water soluble and hygroscopic at room temperature. The higher molecular weight
PEGs are waxy white solids. PEG-2000 has a solubility of about 60% in water at 20°C. Its
melting point is dependent on its molecular weight and exhibits a plateau at about
67°C.101,102 It is biocompatible,103,104 yields non-immunogenicity, non-antigenicity,
protein rejection, and non-toxic. That’s why it has gained popularity among the re-
searchers. The chemical structure is shown in Figure 15. It is most popular in phar-
maceutical industries, tissue engineering105 and medicals. PEG-based wound healing
especially in diabetic wounds causes skin cells to grow faster and accelerates the
healing.106
18 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 15. Chemical structure of PEG.

The properties of the materials used in FDM 3D printing are summarized in Table 2.

Hydrogels (Ink) for DIW

The printable ink for DIW can be fabricated by mixing fillers, binders, additives, and
solvents as shown in Figure 16(a).25 Valentine et al.116 prepared two types of ink: in-
sulating ink and conductive ink. For insulating ink, they mixed TPU (Elastollan soft 35A)
in cosolvent prepared from 1:4 ratio by volume (v/v) of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF)
and tetrahydrofuran (THF). For conductive ink, they mixed TPU (Elastollan Soft 35A) in
DMF and then silver flakes, and APS 2–5 μm (Inframat Advanced Materials) were added.
Lastly, the inks were centrifuged to remove the air bubble and made ready for 3D printing.
They 3D printed flexible and wearable sensors using DIW method.
Jason et al.117 immersed a bottle containing water in an oil bath heated at 100°C. When
the water started boiling, hexadecylamine (HDA) and copper chloride ðCuCl2 :2H2 OÞ
were added and stirred for 30 min at 1000 r/min. When the color of solution changed to
sky blue, α or β D-glucose (Merck) was added, then the color of solution changed from
pale brown to dark brown. After stirring for 6 h, the solution was removed from oil bath
and centrifuged, and hence the ink was ready to use as shown in Figure 16(b).
Wang et al.118 prepared electrode layer ink by dissolving TPU (Elastollan 35A, BASF)
in DMF at 1:1.5 ratio of TPU:DMF. Then, silver microflakes (≈5 μm) were added into the
solution and mixed well using planetary mixer. They also prepared sensing layer ink by
adding NaCl crystals as the sacrificial template. For this, the grain size of NaCl crystals
was reduced to <100 μm, and then mixed with carbon black and TPU (dissolved in twice
its weight of DMF). This solution was mixed thoroughly, and a porous and conductive ink
was obtained.
Lacey et al.119 produced additive-free and aqueous carbon-based ink by oxidizing
holey graphene (hG), which is a highly porous carbon nanomaterial. They obtained holey
graphene oxide (hGO), which is nano porous and hydrophilic in nature. Then hGO was
mixed with water at high concentration of ≈100 mm/mL, and hence a printable ink with
shear thinning behavior was produced as shown in Figure 16(c). The produced ink was
used to 3D print a complex structure, stacked mesh structure.
The composition of inks determines the mechanical properties, resolution, and
conductivity of the printed electronics. The inks must possess two important charac-
teristics: shear thinning behavior and viscoelasticity.120,121 These characteristics of inks
allow them to extrude smoothly from the dispenser, rapid curing, fusion with previously
deposited layers and to maintain a fixed shape of object after printing due to its higher
storage modulus and yield strength.122 In addition, the rheology of inks can be optimized
by adding nanomaterials as fillers to improve their electrochemical, conductivity and
mechanical properties.
Jayswal and Adanur 19

Table 2. Mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties of materials used in FDM.

Materials Mechanical Thermal Chemical References

PLA ρ: 1.21–1.25 Tg : 45–60°C • Optically active configurations: L– [14,47,50,107–111]

g/cm3 σ: 21– lactide and D–lactide
60 MPa
E: 0.35–3.5 GPa Tm : 170–180°C • Optically pure PLLA and PDLA are
crystalline
2: 2.5–6.0% • If the content of D isomers is less
σ F : 65–157 MPa ΔH0m = 93.6 (J/g) than 2% in the L-D blends then a
EF : 2.50 GPa χ = 10–30 (%) highly crystalline PLA can be
σ I : 4.25–13.7 obtained whereas if it is higher
kJ=m2 than 20%, a highly amorphous PLA
can be produced
ABS ρ: 1.01–1.20 Tg : 105–110°C • SAN determines the chemical [8,14,16,69,71,112]
g/cm3 properties of ABS.
σ: 36–72 MPa Tm : 230–270°C • High resistance to acids, alkalis, fats,
or aqueous solutions of salts
E: 0.1–2.4 GPa • Hydrophobic
2: 3–20% • Contact angle between ABS and
water is 81.0 ± 0.6°
σ F : 48–110 MPa • Insoluble in paraffinic hydrocarbons
EF : 2.250 GPa • SAN phase is soluble in halogenated
hydrocarbons, aromatics, esters,
and ketones
IZOD impact, • Oxidizing agents, especially
notched: inorganic acids, break up the
106 J/m chains and cause degradation of
the polymer
TPU ρ: 1.10 g/cm3 Tg : –33°C • Semi-crystalline, and hygroscopic [113–115]
σ: 50 MPa MFI = 32 g/10 min • Can be polyether-based or
polyester-based
2: 550% α = 161 × 106 • Ether-bonded compounds are
EF : 68.9 MPa mm/mm/oC often poorly biodegradable
PVA ρ = 1.27 g/cm3 MFI = 39 ± 8 g/10 • Hydrophilic polymer with excellent [91,99]
min biocompatibility
σ: 17.84 ± Tg : 34°C, Tm : • PVA with low degree of hydrolys
1.01 MPa 178°C (DH) shows higher solubility in
water at low temperature
E: 5.60 ± ΔH0m = 161 J/g • PVA with high DH, must be heated
0.26 MPa above 70°C to dissolve in water
(at 10% strain)
2: 2.18 ± 0.21 χ = ∼20 (%) • Residual acetate groups
(mm/mm) (hydrophobic in nature) weaken
the intra – and intermolecular
hydrogen bonds of adjoining ‒OH
groups

Note: ρ: Density; σ: Tensile strength; E: Tensile modulus; 2: Tensile elongation; σ F : Flexural strength; EF : Flexural
modulus; σ I : Impact strength; Tg : Glass transition temperature; Tm : Melting temperature; ΔH0m : Melting enthalpy
of 100% crystalline polymers; χ: Crystallinity; MFI: Melt flow index; α: Coefficient of linear thermal expansion.
20 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 16. Images showing (a) Ink formulation and rheology for DIW 3D printing25 (Reprinted
with permission from ref. [25]. Copyright 2019 American Chemical Society.), (b) Ink formulated
by using copper nanowires, HDA and water117 (Reprinted with permission from ref. [117].
Copyright 2015 American Chemical Society.), and (c) Image showing the steps of preparing the
additive free ink using holey graphene and water.119 (Reproduced with permission from ref.
[119]. Copyright Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The flow of inks is observed when the applied shear stress (τ) is greater than yield point
ðτ y Þ of the inks. The relationship between shear stress, shear rate and viscosity can be
expressed by equation (2).
τ ¼ η_γ ¼ τy þ K γ_ n (2)

where, η is apparent viscosity, γ_ is shear rate, K is viscosity parameter, and n is the power
law exponent.
The inks having lower viscosity extrudes easily from the nozzle but have to be cured
rapidly to retain the final shape. TPU ink having low viscosity, around 101 to 102 Pa.s, was
extruded through a 200 μm nozzle which behaved as a Newtonian fluid (η is independent
of the shear rate) (shown by blue curve in Figure 17). After printing, the product was cured
at 80°C within 2 h. The inks having shear thinning behavior exhibits lower viscosity with
increasing shear rates, γ_ (n < 1). This type of rheological characteristics allows the
continuous and stable ink flow through a nozzle. The mixing of silver flakes causes the
rheology of ink to change from Newtonian flow to shear thinning behavior (shown by
gray curve in Figure 17) and become gel-like upon the removal of shear stress and help to
retain the shape of final product.25,116
Jayswal and Adanur 21

Figure 17. Rheological behavior of TPU ink prepared for direct ink writing of soft electronics.116
(Reproduced with permission from ref. [116]. Copyright Wiley-VCH GmbH.) (For interpretation
of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article).

Nylon powders for SLS

Nylon is a widely used thermoplastic material because of its light weight, excellent
mechanical properties, superior flexibility, low moisture absorption, chemical resistant
and good dimensional stability.123 Many forms of nylon are available in market such as
Nylon 6, Nylon 11, Nylon 12, Nylon 46, and Nylon 6,6. The semi-crystalline forms of
nylon such as Nylon 11 and 12 (Figure 18) are easy to sinter using the SLS method.

Nylon 12 can be produced through two routes. These routes are explained briefly.

First route. In this process, the polycondensation of ω-aminolauric acid, a bifunctional

monomer with one amine and one carboxylic acid group takes place as follows124
n H2 N ðCH2 Þ11CO2 H → ½ðCH2 Þ11CONHn þ nH2 O (3)

Second route. In this process, a ring – opening polymerization of laurolactan at 260–

300°C takes place, which is carried out by cationic or anionic initiators. The cationic
initiators are used commercially since the products formed by it are less stable and
22 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 18. Chemical structures of Nylon: Nylon 11 (a) and Nylon 12 (b).124

oxidized relatively faster than that of anionic initiators. Ring – opening polymerization is
widely used method for commercial production as shown in equation (4).124
n ½ðCH2 Þ11CONH → ½ðCH2 Þ11CONH n (4)

The melting temperature of nylon 11 and 12 is 170–180°C. Nylon 12 is used in various

industries including as films for packaging materials in the food industry, pharmaceutical
and medical fields, sintered powder for coating metals, textile industry and many others.
Higher mechanical properties can be achieved from nylon 11 and 12 than their
amorphous forms.125 This is one of the reasons for being widely used by the researchers
with the SLS process. However, shrinkage during crystallization can be an obstacle in
production of accurate parts. It provides sufficient time to recrystallize and achieve better
products by the proper fusion of newer layers with the older ones.125 Similarly, molecular
weight is important aspect to consider while sintering of polymer. It affects the melting
viscosity and hence melt flow index (MFI). Higher MFI is related to lower melting
viscosity and lower molecular weight of polymer.126 The relationship between molecular
weight and melting viscosity can be given as
n
η0 ¼ kðMw Þ (5)

where, η0 is the viscosity of polymer, k is constant, and Mw is molecular weight. Every

polymer has its critical molecular weight, Mc . If Mw < Mc , then n = 1, and if Mw > Mc ,
then n = 3.4.
Similarly, for a better SLS process and product quality, Frenkel proposed a model for
predicting melting viscosity. This model considers the sintering rate of two adjacent
materials and is given by equation (6) and Figure 19.126
 x 2 3σt
¼ (6)
r 2πη0

where, σ and t are the surface tensions of the polymer materials and the time required to
scan a dot by the laser, respectively, r is the radius of powder grains, and x is the width of
sintered layers between the particles. If x = r ¼ 0:5, it was proposed that sintering process
has completed. In this way, equation (6) can predict the melting viscosity of the polymer
material.
Jayswal and Adanur 23

Figure 19. Frenkel sintering model (Modified after ref. [126]).

Applications
In this section, a review of additive manufacturing of fabrics and flexible electronics is
presented.

Additive manufacturing of fabrics

Use of different additive manufacturing (3D printing) methods is in its infancy; they have
been extensively used in textile and fabrics industries. The most widely used materials are
PLA, ABS, TPU, Nylon, etc. The desired traits of printable materials for textile ap-
plications are printability, flexibility, biocompatibility, good mechanical, and structural
properties. In this section, the application of different 3D printing methods along with the
suitable materials for 3D printing of fabrics is presented.

Fused deposition modeling. Fused deposition modeling is the dominating 3D printing

technology in fashion, and textile industries. Several researchers worked on design and
3D printing of fabrics by using FDM method. Some of this research is reviewed briefly in
this section.
Different designs of fabric structures have been 3D printed using FDM method.
Figure 20 shows the design of lattice structures, CAD models and 3D printed fabric
structures for plain and twill weave designs. Figure 20(a) shows the design of plain weave
fabrics with the spacing between two yarns denoted by Y mm, gap of h mm and diameter
of 3 mm. The CAD model and 3D printed structure based on the design when Y = 5 mm
and h = 0 mm are shown in Figure 20(b) and (c), respectively. Similarly, the CAD model
and 3D printed structure based on the design when Y = 10 mm and h = 0.5 mm are shown
in Figure 20(d) and (e), respectively.14
The design of twill weave fabric is shown in Figure 20(f).14,43 The spacing between
two yarns is 3 mm and the gaps at the cross-over points are given by H, h, and L. The
values were set to H = 0.59 mm, h = 0.65 mm, and L = 0.90 mm. The yarns of 3D printed
twill weave fabric were not sticking with each other and easily separated out manually.
The CAD model and 3D printed twill structures are shown in Figure 20(g)–(i), re-
spectively. The mechanical tests were performed for twill fabrics. The uniaxial tensile
tests of yarns and fabrics showed that the mean tensile stresses at maximum load were
24 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 20. 3D printed fabric structures using FDM. (a) Design of lattice structure of plain weave
fabric, (b) CAD model of plain weave fabric when h = 0 in (a), (c) 3D printed plain weave fabric
structure when h = 0 mm, (d) CAD model of plain weave fabric when h = 0.5 mm in (a), (e) 3D
printed plain weave fabric structure and a yarn when h = 0.5 mm, (f) Design of lattice structure of
twill weave fabric, (g) CAD model of twill weave fabric, (h) Top view of 3D printed twill fabric
structure and a separated yarn, and (i) front view of 3D printed twill fabric structure.
Jayswal and Adanur 25

Figure 21. (a–c) Design of weft knitted fabric structure, and (d) 3D printed weft knitted fabric
structure with magnified view.

Figure 22. Weft knitted fabric structure 3D printed by using FDM method: (a) BendLay with
support materials, and (b) Soft PLA without support materials.107 (Copyright 2014 IOP Publishing
Ltd).
26 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 23. FDM 3D printed fabric structure: (a) 3D modeled lattice structure for fabric, and (b) A
complete 3D printed dress over a mannequin.127 (Copyright 2020 Journal of Engineered Fibers
and Fabrics.)

29 MPa and 18 MPa for warp and weft yarns, respectively. The stiffnesses were 415 MPa
and 628 MPa for warp and weft yarns, respectively. Similarly, the mean tensile stresses
were 32 MPa and 10 MPa for twill fabrics in warp and weft directions respectively. The
stiffnesses were 609 MPa and 532 MPa for twill fabric in warp and weft directions,
respectively. The flexural tests showed that the flexural strength for twill fabric was lower
than the fabric tensile strength; hence, this twill structure could easily fail under bending
force than under tensile load.
Weft knitted fabric was designed as shown in Figure 21(a)–(c). Based on the CAD
model designed in Solidworks®, the fabric structure has been 3D printed with higher
flexibility as shown in Figure 21(d). The yarns are not sticking with each other. The fabric
structure was 3D printed as a single piece having flexibility and without any defects on the
surface.
Melnikova et al.107 used FDM printer X400 and different types of materials such as
PLA, soft PLA, and BendLay. They printed weft knitted structures as shown in Figure 22.
Knitted structure was printed using BendLay and with support material. It was realized
that support structure was hard to remove, which destroyed the model as shown in
Figure 22(a). Hence, they concluded that it was not possible to print a fine model by FDM.
However, using soft PLA and without support material, they could obtain the structure
having separated loops and exhibiting similar properties to knitted fabrics as shown in
Figure 22(b). The surface roughness and fine fibers between loops could be easily ob-
served on a macroscopic level.
Jayswal and Adanur 27

Figure 24. (a) 3D printed unit cell of fabric, (b) Design of to-be-3D-printed clothing, and (c) A
complete 3D printed dress over a traditionally manufactured dress.128 (Copyright 2019 Fashion
and Textiles).

Figure 25. (A) Sewing pattern 3D printed using two materials, (B) surface design of glove, (C)
flexible sewing pattern with inner lining, (D) pattern pieces sewn together to form a 3D printed
glove.129. (Reproduced with permission from ref. [129]. Copyright 2019 Tekstilec).

Spahiu et al.127 designed a 3D model of fabric as shown in Figure 23(a), in which the
shape of structure is an arrowhead with negative Poisson’s ratio having dimensions of
130 mm × 130 mm. A structure having negative Poisson’s ratio is called auxetic structure.
They used the material, FilaFlex manufactured by Recreus with shore hardness A82 to
fabricate the lattice structures. They printed several lattice structures and then using a
Dikale 07A 3D Pen, all the parts were joined with each other in a definite pattern. Finally,
28 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 26. 3D printed blouse and skirt by using Kinematics method.131. (Reproduced with
permission from.131 Copyright Nervous System.)

a complete 3D printed dress was obtained as shown in Figure 23(b). However, they
concluded that more research is needed to achieve the properties of textile materials to
replace the traditional way of garment manufacturing.
Kim et al.128 3D printed unit cell of fabric structures using TPU as main building
material as shown in Figure 24(a). Their fabric design was inspired by the spider web and
used triangles of different sizes and shapes. They designed the final silhouette of the to-be-
3D-printed clothing using the software, Rhinoceros and then modelled the fabric structure
by using another software, Grasshopper as shown in Figure 24(b). After 3D printing of the
unit cells, they assembled them together producing the final 3D printed cloth. They used
different connection methods to join the triangles such as sewing, and copper wire. A
complete 3D printed dress wrapped over the traditionally manufactured dress is shown in
Figure 24(c).
Uysal and Stubbs129 used a combination of different materials, PLA and LAY-FOMM
40, to 3D print textile – like structures using the 3D printer X400 such as gloves as shown
in Figure 25. LAY-FOMM 40 is made of rubber-elastomeric polymer and PVA com-
ponent. After rinsing in water, PVA disappears, and the remaining part becomes soft,
flexible, and micro-porous. It is harmless and food-safe.130 First, they printed the sewing
patterns (Figure 25A) in which the surfaces were printed partially with polygons
(Figure 25B and C) and then the patterns were sewn together to obtain the final 3D form of
glove (Figure 25D). The authors suggested two future studies regarding joining the
printed patterns: ultrasound technique and 3D printed connections to join the patterns to
avoid extra needs of tools.

Selective laser sintering. A fashion design company named, Nervous System, 3D printed
different fabrics structures following kinematics methods with SLS using Nylon powder
as shown in Figure 26. Examples of 3D printed structures include skirt, blouse, belts,
Jayswal and Adanur 29

Figure 27. Weft knitted textile-based structures.123 (Copyright 2019 International Journal of
Fashion Design, Technology and Education).

jewellery, and many more. The kinematics bodice they produced was composed of
1320 hinged pieces, and was 3D printed in a single folded piece. To adjust the size of
bodice into the printer, the fabric was printed in a flattened form which was produced by
Kinematics folding software. The 3D printed bodice was wearable straight out of the
printer since no pieces were manually assembled and no fasteners were used.131
Beecroft 3D printed textile-based tubular structures using SLS method.123 The ma-
terial employed was nylon powder to produce flexible weft knitted structures. For 3D
printing, a CAD model is required which was developed by using Rhino CAD software.
The printed samples were manually compressed and stretched without any deformations
in the knit, and the compressed and extended lengths were determined (Figures 27(a) and
(b)). This tube has a compression and extension range of 95 mm, which is 52.80% of its
length. Moreover, the samples were manually stretched over the conical structure re-
peatedly to determine the stretch and recovery properties of the tube (Figure 27(c)). It was
observed that the loop structure recovered its shape but had slight deformations. In
addition, each tube was bended and folded manually to see the overall flexibility and the
structure recovered to its original shape (Figure 27(d)).

Additive manufacturing of flexible electronics

Several research works on 3D printing of flexible electronics have been performed. Some
relevant works along with the associated additive manufacturing method are reviewed in
this section.

Direct ink writing. Valentine et al.116 developed a hybrid 3D printing method to fabricate
flexible and wearable electronics using insulating matrix and conductive electrode inks.
They used thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) elastomers which acted as insulating matrix.
To make it conductive, silver flakes with dimensions of ≈2 μm were added to TPU matrix.
These inks can be used to print in a specific layout and then both the active and passive
electrical components are merged to obtain the final electric circuit. To combine, vacuum
nozzle can be employed to pick up the components from one location and place at another.
The conducive traces were printed to make electrical connection between the components.
30 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 28. Schematic diagrams showing (a) DIW 3D printing using an insulating ink, (b) DIW 3D
printing using conductive ink, (c) 3D printed wearable and flexible sensor, (d) Pick-and-place of
components using vacuum nozzle, (e) Direct ink writing of AgTPU traces, and (f) A functional LED
device worn on a finger.116 (Reproduced with permission from ref. [116]. Copyright Wiley-VCH
GmbH.)

The whole process is shown in Figure 28. They observed a strong bonding between TPU
and AgTPU inks, and as a result, delamination, and cracking during or after printing were
not seen. This observation solved a common problem of delamination during printing.
The conductivity of a composite conductive ink with respective to power-law theory
for a percolating network is given by

S
σ ¼ σ 0 Vf  Vc (7)

where, σ is conductivity of composite ink, σ 0 is bulk conductivity of silver, Vf is vol-

umetric fraction of silver flakes in dried form, VC is critical volume fraction at percolation
(in dried form) and s is the power law exponent. From their experimental observations,
they decided to work with 36 vol% of silver in the conductive composite ink (AgTPU ink)
which contained an initial conductivity above 104 S cm1 .116
Boley et al.132 used direct ink writing method to fabricate novel stretchable strain
gauges. They employed Gallium-Indium alloys such as eutectic Ga-In (EGaIn) (75% Ga,
25% In) as the ink and extruded over two silicon – based substrates: glass and
Polydimethyl-siloxane (PDMS) mixed in 10:1 weight ratio. The printing setup is shown
in Figure 29(a)–(c). The ratio of the velocity of the EGaIn exiting the needle to the stage
velocity, v* can be expressed by
4Q
v∗ ¼ (8)
πID2 v
where, Q is flow rate of ink, ID is inner diameter of stationary syringe needle, and v is
velocity of stage. They printed novel strain gauges directly on PDMS substrate and then
encapsulated in PDMS for performance characterization. The variation in resistance
increment is almost linear for strains up to 50% with an approximate slope (gauge factor)
Jayswal and Adanur 31

Figure 29. Direct ink writing of stretchable electronics: (a) DIW equipment, (b) schematic of
DIW process, (c) Detailed cross-sectional view of deposited ink, (d) 3D printed stretchable strain
gauge using DIW method. Scale bar is 5 mm in length, (e) Comparison of performance
characterization of DIW 3D printed strain gauges at 50% and 100% strain loops repeated for five
cycles, and (f) Strain gauges stretched at different strains.132. (Reproduced with permission from
ref. [132]. Copyright Wiley-VCH GmbH.)
32 Journal of Industrial Textiles

Figure 30. (a) 3D printed shoe insole with embedded pressure and temperature sensors with
wireless communications chip for data transmission, and (b) Data generated from the chip
embedded in the 3D printed shoe insole.10 (Copyright 2018 Opto-Electronic Advances.)

of 1.5, whereas it deviates from linear trend for strains greater than 50% making a
quadratic least square fit for 100% strain. The experimental approach showing the
stretchability of the printed strain gauges are shown in Figure 29(d)–(f). This process can
be useful for rapid fabrication of inductors, and capacitors with potential applications in
sensing, actuating skins, robotics, medical devices, and stretchable electronics.

Challenges and opportunities

Additive manufacturing methods allow to produce complex structures depending on the
CAD model. The structures may be a topology of an internal architecture of a part or the
whole geometry. With high degree of design and fabrication freedom comes the asso-
ciated challenges and opportunities for the researchers and innovators.3,133 The chal-
lenges include representation, optimization, material selection, material development and
3D printing of complicated geometries.
Since the research field related to additive manufacturing of fabrics is new, it carries a
lot of challenges to overcome to make an impact on human lives.

(a) The fabric structures have complex architecture, which needs a good design
knowledge in CAD software. An experienced design engineer needs to be
involved.
(b) The lattice structure may contain gaps between the yarns and have weaving
curves. This makes the rapid prototyping of such structures a challenging task.
Many printing parameters such as printing orientation, temperature, speed, infill
density, and layer thickness need to be studied.
(c) The materials available are PLA, TPU, ABS or other thermoplastics. The re-
sulting fabrics using these materials do not possess the required fabric properties
such as flexibility and strength. Hence, novel material development and its
adoption to the additive manufacturing should be pursued.
(d) Most of the 3D printers are designed to fabricate parts of limited size. This brings
a challenge to produce fabrics of larger size. Moreover, it is a challenging task to
Jayswal and Adanur 33

connect or join or stitch all the smaller parts. Therefore, research on stitching of
parts is important.

All these challenges, on the other hand, bring opportunities for the innovators and
scientists. The additive manufacturing of flexible structures is interesting and revolu-
tionary. It can be used to produce support structures for fabrics along with the fabrics
manufactured by traditional methods.
Some of the challenges and opportunities associated with the 3D printing of electronics
are as follows:

(a) To maintain the same conductivity of the 3D printed electronics is still chal-
lenging. The reason is the poor conductivity of ink which is caused by low curing
temperature because of the limitation of substrate material such as cardboard,
polymers. In addition, the available material types and their processing to 3D print
electronic objects is also one of the major difficulties. Hence, it is recommended
to explore different materials to provide adequate functionality and manu-
facturability for the product. Moreover, a hybrid 3D printing process should also
be studied. A hybrid process combining FDM and direct ink writing shows higher
applied potential, and more flexibility.10 For example, a shoe insole was 3D
printed by using multi-materials, which had embedded pressure and temperature
sensor, and mounted with wireless communications chip for data transmission
(Figure 30). The multi-layer sensors along with the insulating layers and sensing
elements have been printed using hybrid printing method. This has made possible
with the combination of ink jet, aerosol jet and extrusion print heads.10 Along
with all these challenges, the innovative eyes can see the opportunities. For
example, one can combine 3D printed electronic elements such as sensors in the
completely 3D printed fabrics.
(b) One of the major challenges is to maintain the resolution of printed electronics,
which directly affects their performances. An electronic component with higher
resolution works better than that with lower resolution. This hinders the wider
adoption of additive manufacturing technologies in electronics [134] [135] [136].

Conclusions
In this paper, several AM methods, and materials are reviewed, which have found ap-
plications for fabrication of flexible structures such as fabrics and electronics. AM is
transforming the manufacturing industries providing the capability to fabricate objects
ranging from simple to complex geometries. It has been adopted in almost every industry
for fabricating prototypes or for research work. A group of researchers have started
working on 3D printing of fabrics. Based on the design requirements, different types of
fabrics have been investigated for a wide variety of materials available. The designs of
fabrics studied are plain and twill weave, knitted, or some other innovative designs. The
additive manufacturing methods explored are fused deposition modeling (FDM), and
Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), which have been discussed in this article. The most
34 Journal of Industrial Textiles

common materials used are PLA, ABS, TPU and nylon. However, a detail study on the
mechanical properties of printed fabrics is still not seen in the literature. Moreover, the
literature also lacks studies on printing process parameters. This creates a future research
direction on 3D printing of fabrics.
In the second part, the fabrication of electronics is discussed. There are many methods
for 3D printing of electronics, but in this review the material extrusion based direct ink
writing (DIW) method is discussed. This method uses the hydrogel or ink form of
materials and extrudes through the nozzle based on the CAD model. The printable ink for
DIW can be fabricated by mixing fillers, binders, additives, and solvents. It is useful for a
wide variety of materials such as ceramics, plastics, food and living cells. Hence, it is an
extremely versatile technology. Post-processing such as drying, heating, or sintering may
be required to harden the printed part and improve its mechanical properties. It fabricates
flexible and wearable electronics using the insulating matrix and conductive electrode
inks. However, the poor conductivity, limitations of material types available, and res-
olution of 3D printed electronics are some of the difficulties. A future work can be on
increasing the conductivity, explore different combinations of materials and/or develop
innovative materials, and increasing the resolution of 3D printed electronics.

Acknowledgements
This work has been supported by the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Auburn University,
which is appreciated.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/
or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.

ORCID iDs
Ajay Jayswal  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1623-0682
Sabit Adanur  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5433-3084

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