3D Printing Coral

Introduction 

Coral reefs are some of the Earth's most diverse ecosystems. Almost twenty-five percent of marine life is dependent on coral reefs as a habit. Corals are living organisms that have a symbiotic relationship to zooxanthellae, single-celled dinoflagellates, who conduct photosynthesis to provide nutrients like glucose for the coral. However, in recent years, coral reefs have been declining. According to NASA's Earth Observatory, nearly "27 percent of monitored reef formations have been lost and as much as 32 percent are at risk of being lost within the next 32 years." National Geographic estimates by 2100 that most of the coral reefs will die. The decline of coral bleaching is due to coral bleaching events due to global warming. 

The coral reef is home to many important organisms and many coastal regions depend on the ocean for livelihood, serving important economic significance. NOAA states the "economic value of coral reefs is nearly 3.4 billion dollars" and 500 hundred million people depend on coral reefs. 

Current efforts to restore coral reefs include reducing greenhouse emissions and rehabilitation efforts. For example, coral nurseries grow coral fragments in lab settings and bring them back into the ocean. Other efforts include reducing invasive species that reduce coral growth or increasing coral resistance to diseases.  3D printing has been pretty useful in many different applications and is now researchers have developed 3D printed coral, a collaboration with Robotic Fabrication Lab, the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Architecture, and the University of Hong Kong Swire Institute of Marine Science, to restore corals as well.  

3D Printing Process

In this project, I am interested in creating coral inspired by the pillar coral, an endangered species of coral to restore the coral reef. I was inspired by the project using terracotta to model after the Acropora, Platygyra, and Pavona coral species (Rethinking Artificial Reef Structures through 3D Clay Printing, 2020). 

I used Fusion 360 to make my sketch. Since corals are organic shapes I used "create form" which switches Fusion 360 from "design" to "sculpt" modes. For the coral elements, I used cylindrical and spherical shapes for my general outline. Next steps were to make the coral life-like and provide dimension, I found clicking through the edit modes helped remove and edit the faces of the sketch. After the sketch process, came exporting and relevant software downloads. Note here is the sketch was completed on "sculpt" mode and downloaded as an obj file first. However, one challenge here was to 3D print, requires stl file format. Checking other apps, I found and utilized Autodesk Meshmixer, 3D platform known for triangle meshes and extended functions beyond Autoclad platform, one of which is to convert obj to stl files. Once the sketch was exported into an stl. file, the sketch was ready to 3D print using the Cura software. The model for printing was the Lulzbot Taxz 5 printer. 

Takeways

This self-led project to design and develop with 3D printing has lots of potential to solve problems like marine conservation! Through research, I found 3D printing is a creative alternative, combining visual design to generate print elements, to bring economical, customizable, and environmentally conscious products that are unavailable. Coral reefs are an important ecosystem and require additional efforts to help the coral reefs as global warming is a prevalent issue in our future. Further improvements in the technology are to determine (1) what filament is suitable in saltwater conditions (2) what coral shapes are beneficial to the development and survival of marine organisms, (3) how can zooxanthellae or photo symbiont be represented in artificial coral?

In this project, I independently learn the use the Fusion 360 software by navigating the software interface and layouts. Beginner to the 3D printing software, I encountered a software issue, in particular, with navigating the functions to designing coral sketch. I best problem solved with assistance in the form of Youtube video platforms and Autocad help forums. If I plan to revisit 3D printing, my next step for improvement is to research functions unique to developing organic form and texture in Fusion 360.

Resources

Chowdhry A. What Can 3D Printing Do? Here Are 6 Creative Examples. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2013/10/08/what-can-3d-printing-do-here-are-6-creative-examples/.

Coral Reefs. https://coast.noaa.gov/states/fast-facts/coral-reefs.html.

Parker L, Welch C. 2017 Jun 23. Coral Reefs Could Be Gone in 30 Years. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/coral-reef- bleaching-global-warming-unesco-sites.

Souza E. 2020 Sep 14. Rethinking Artificial Reef Structures through 3D Clay Printing. ArchDaily. https://www.archdaily.com/947495/rethinking-artificial-reef-structures-through-3d-clay-printing.

Restoring Coral Reefs | NOAA Fisheries. 2021 Jan 11. NOAA. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/habitat-conservation/restoring-coral- reefs.

Weir J. 2001 Mar 12. Mapping the Decline of Coral Reefs. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Coral.