Table Info

Table 1.

Characteristics of various 3D printing techniques

3D Printing Technique	Materials Used	Precision^*	Strength^#	Surface Finish^@	Applications
Binder jetting [25]	Metals, ceramics, polymers	Moderate	Moderate (post-processed)	Rough (needs post-processing)	Custom bone scaffolds, complex implants
Fused deposition modeling (FDM) [26]	Thermoplastics (PLA, ABS, PEEK)	Low to moderate	Moderate	Rough (can be smoothed)	Custom prosthetic limbs, knee joint models
Directed energy deposition (DED) [4]	Metals (Ti, co-Cr alloys)	High	High	Moderate	Hip implant repairs, spinal fusion devices
Selective laser sintering (SLS) [27]	Polymers, metals, composites	High	High	Moderate	Spinal cages, acetabular cups for hip implants
Sheet lamination [28]	Paper, metal foils, polymers	Low to moderate	Moderate	Varies (depending on material)	Anatomical models, surgical cutting guides
Stereolithography (SLA) [29]	Photopolymers	Very high	Low to moderate	Excellent (smooth finish)	Detailed spinal models, knee prototypes

^* The ability to produce detailed, complex geometries; ^# depends on materials and post-processing techniques; ^@ indicates the smoothness of the final product without additional treatments

Declarations

Author contributions

AD and PR: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

Not applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent to publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Funding

Not applicable.

Copyright

Publisher’s note

Open Exploration maintains a neutral stance on jurisdictional claims in published institutional affiliations and maps. All opinions expressed in this article are the personal views of the author(s) and do not represent the stance of the editorial team or the publisher.

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