3D printing
3D printing: sostantivo non numerabile
3D printer: sostantivo numerabile
3D printed: aggettivo
3D printing is an emerging technology that has many applications and offers an innovative way to create unique or personalised objects.
The 3D printer was delivered to the ISS two months ago and the first thing it made was a sample component for itself.
I drove a 3D printed car. It wasn’t for long, and it wasn’t far, but it was a singularly awesome experience.
Vi sarà capitato di leggere che la prima auto stampata con la tecnologia 3D (3D printed car) è stata assemblata e ha persino effettuato una prova su strada. La vettura, Strati, è stata ideata dal designer italiano Michele Anoè e realizzata dall’americana Local Motors.
E più di recente, gli astronauti a bordo della Stazione Spaziale Internazionale hanno usato una stampante 3D (3D printer) per produrre una chiave meccanica seguendo le istruzioni inviate loro via email dalla NASA.
Solo qualche anno fa il concetto di 3D printing, la stampa in 3D, sembrava fantascientifico, eppure si è fatto strada nella vita di tutti i giorni a una velocità stupefacente. E mentre le prime reazioni mediatiche erano scettiche o allarmistiche – e se la criminalità usasse la tecnologia 3D per stampare armi? – oggi le notizie sono presentate perlopiù positivamente. Una chiave meccanica fabbricata nello spazio, un’auto che consta di appena 49 parti, contro le circa 5.000 che tipicamente compongono una vettura tradizionale: tutte cose cha hanno ancora dell’incredibile, ma che cominciano a sembrare sempre più fattibili. Una piccola ricerca su Google svela che si può acquistare una 3D printer, una stampante 3D, a partire da 6-700 euro, anche se per quel prezzo immagino che al massimo si possa stampare una chiave meccanica, piuttosto che una macchina elettrica…
Origini del termine
L’espressione 3D printing è formata dall’acronimo usato comunemente per three-dimensional e dal sostantivo printing. Il termine 3D di solito si riferisce a film, immagini ecc. che danno l’impressione di tridimensionalità. Ovviamente, mentre la stampa tradizionale è bidimensionale, una 3D printer produce oggetti reali che funzionano davvero. Il termine alternativo additive manufacturing (o AM), cioè produzione (o manifattura) additiva, rende molto meglio l’idea del procedimento tecnologico impiegato, ma 3D printing è l’espressione che si è imposta.
3D printing: uncountable noun
3D printer: countable noun
3D printed: adj
3D printing is an emerging technology that has many applications and offers an innovative way to create unique or personalised objects.
The 3D printer was delivered to the ISS two months ago and the first thing it made was a sample component for itself.
I drove a 3D printed car. It wasn’t for long, and it wasn’t far, but it was a singularly awesome experience.
You have probably seen in the news that someone has built and driven the first 3D printed car; in fact the designer was an Italian, Michele Anoè, as is the vehicle’s name – Strati – although it was actually built by Local Motors, a company based in Arizona.
You may also have seen the news that astronauts on the International Space Station used a 3D printer to produce a working socket wrench from plans emailed to them by NASA back on Earth.
When it first entered the general consciousness a couple of years ago, 3D printing seemed the stuff of science fiction, but it has become everyday fact with incredible speed. While early media reactions tended to be sceptical or panicky – what if criminals used the printers to print weapons for themselves? – recent stories have been much more positive. A working spanner manufactured in space; a car that has only 49 parts instead of the 5,000 or so found in a typical vehicle: still mind-boggling, but starting to seem much more feasible. In fact Google tells me that you can buy your own 3D printer for around £500, though for that price I imagine you are looking at the spanner end of the market rather than the super-cool electric car.
Origin
3D printing is a combination of the familiar abbreviation for three-dimensional with the noun printing. The term 3D is generally applied to images – films, pictures and so on that appear to have depth as well as length and breadth. Of course while traditional printing is flat – letters on a page or screen – 3D printers produce objects that function in the real world. The alternative term additive manufacturing (or AM) gives a much better idea of the nature of the processes involved, but 3D printing is the term that has caught on.
