QR code ‘clouds’ protect 3D printing from piracy

The worldwide market for 3D-printed parts is a $5 billion business with a global supply chain involving the internet, email, and the cloud—creating a number of opportunities for counterfeiting and intellectual property theft. Flawed parts printed from stolen design files could produce dire results: experts predict that by 2021, 75 percent of new commercial and military aircraft will fly with 3D-printed engine, airframe, and other components, and the use of AM in the production of medical implants will grow by 20 percent per year over the next decade. In a paper in Advanced Engineering Materials, the researchers describe a method for converting QR codes, bar codes, and other passive tags into three-dimensional features hidden in such a way that they neither compromise the part’s integrity nor announce themselves to counterfeiters who have the means to reverse engineer the part.