The proposed opportunity is to evaluate the technical feasibility of an Industry 4.0 compatible post-processing machine capable of adding a functionality to Additively Manufactured (AM) components. Current function-adding methods such as colouring and coating entail semi-manual production chains that are costly and time consuming. The proposed machine will simplify the part functionalising stage in additive manufacturing at scale. Current most popular function-adding systems include water-based pot colouring methods and manual coating. Both methods are extremely water-wasteful, energy-inefficient and labour-intensive. Additive Manufacturing Technologies Ltd (AMT), a Sheffield based manufacturer of smart industrial post-processing systems has invented and filed patents for a novel way to uniformly fuse material onto the polymer parts. The method can be used to colour Additively Manufactured (3D printed) parts or coat them with wide range of materials such as carbon nanotubes, antibacterial particles, metals, glass etc. The invented method uses zero water, green consumables and does not produce any waste. This technology would disrupt the global AM market by creating new generation of AM parts that can be used for high performance applications that were not possible before, e.g. novel battery/capacitor components, functional military or satellite parts.

Covid-19 and geopolitical uncertainties are bringing significant changes into the global manufacturing, logistics and free trade. This has increased uptake of the on-demand 3D printing manufacturing in UK, USA and Europe, especially for the manufacture of medical articles, Covid-19 testing devices, PPE and personal accessories \[Nature, _The global rise of 3D printing during the COVID-19 pandemic, 12 August 2020\]._ 3D printing offers the capability to rapidly create necessary medical articles locally within the UK. This ability is of strategic national importance, especially in the times of crisis and shortage of vital components as seen during Covid-19 epidemic. In many cases it is faster for the local hospitals and institutions to receive specialised parts by 3D printing them at the point of use rather than from the central government. Nationwide, there are many 3D printing systems both in commercial and academic capacity and this resource must be utilised. Due to the layer-by-layer nature of 3D printing, the printed articles result in rough, powdery and porous surfaces. This causes the accumulation and growth of bacteria, fungi and increases the risk of the loose polymer particles attacking the respiratory system as noted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and FDA guidelines for 3D printing. This issue prevents any further use of 3D printed articles for oral/respiratory medical purposes. Current methods for the post-processing of 3D printed surfaces involve mechanical abrasion techniques, that do not seal the surface and create polymer micro-fibres that can attack the respiratory system. Furthermore, these methods discharge hundreds of litres of micro-plastic polluted freshwater. Therefore, current post-processing techniques are not adequate for the smoothing of articles to be used for medical respiratory purposes. Fully green and sustainable post-processing technology would provide a massive boost to the general adoption of industrial 3D printing in medical market. Additive Manufacturing Technologies (AMT), a Sheffield-based developer and manufacturer of smart Additive Manufacturing systems, has developed a new generation green technology to be used in its vapour-based BLAST smoothing process. The adaptation of such technology would replace traditionally pollutant post-processing methods thus increasing the sustainability and environmental factor in the whole 3D printing process cycle. This follows multiple announcements, policy changes and numerous grants for the industry to move towards clean sustainable technologies and replace old polluting equipment.

Covid-19 has brought disruption to economic and social life in the UK and rest of the world. Widescale testing of millions of people will be required to safely reopen the economy and continuous testing will be needed long after that. This has created an unprecedented demand for Covid-19 diagnostics items, among which Nasopharyngeal Swabs are the most widely used. Widescale usage of Nasopharyngeal Swabs has resulted in unprecedented demand in their manufacturing systems, especially in new generation, sustainable and Industry 4.0 compatible technologies. That is why industry has been trying to adapt 3D printing for the manufacture of required medical articles at scale, including functional specialised items such as Nasopharyngeal Swabs, ventilator splitters, masks etc. 3D printing offers the capability to rapidly yet sustainably create the necessary medical articles locally within the UK. This ability is of strategic national importance, especially in the times of crisis and shortage of vital components as seen during Covid-19 epidemic. In many cases it is more convenient, sustainable, and environmentally friendly to 3D print parts at the point of use rather than keep large stockpiles manufactured overseas. Nationwide, there are many 3D printing systems both in commercial and academic capacity and ability to utilise this resource at full capacity would help UK economy to grow during and after Covid-19 pandemic. Additive Manufacturing Technologies has developed a method to post-process 3D printed Nasopharyngeal Swabs at scale using its smoothing machine PostPro3D. Innovate UK grant would allow AMT to fund the remaining R&D required to deploy this technology commercially. Project will allow AMT to enter 3D printed Nasopharyngeal Swabs and 3D printing Healthcare markets. The work will be done at the AMT's facilities in Sheffield and several UK laboratories that are able to operate under Covid-19 working restrictions.

Our vision is to create an automated intelligent post processing machine, capable of finishing additively manufactured thermoplastic polymer parts to an injection moulded level surface finish. Current finishing methods are labour intensive, costly and time consuming. Accounting for between 5- 60% _\[Innovate UK funded FACTUM project\]_ of the cost depending on part complexity, size and volume. This machine will address the pressing challenge in additive manufacturing of post process surface finishing, particularly at high production volumes. The project team's objectives are to: 1. Create a saleable automated post processing machine capable of generating a repeatable and reproducible surface finish equivalent to that achieved in injection moulding for additively manufactured parts. 2. Develop intelligent algorithms that control the amount of post processing for a given material and geometric design. 3. Develop a machine that is integrated into the digital manufacturing chain. The project is focused on: Automated and predictable surface finishing for thermoplastic polymer parts. Significant quality improvement of the finished part. Reducing costs through the elimination of manual surface finishing. Significantly improving part turnaround time. Innovation lies at the heart of the machine through: Use of proprietary process, discovered by the University of Sheffield, that smooths the surface of parts using solvents. Use of automated process feedback to control the level of finishing applied. Use of algorithms to manage different materials and geometric designs thereby creating an intelligent machine architecture.