Can you sterilize a 3D print easily? The major downside to 3D prints is all the voids and pinholes the process creates, aside from material compatibility issues with sterilizers.
This design is entirely die cut, which is incredibly fast. A machine could probably stamp out 10 of these in the time it takes to print one layer in a typical FDM printer.
You can – depending on the material. The problem is keeping them sterile because, as you point out, there's gaps between layers. And there's wear on the material with most sterilization processes. Which doesn't really help with the end goal. Ideally these would be quickly discarded.
> A machine could probably stamp out 10 of these in the time it takes to print one layer in a typical FDM printer
An Apple machine, right? Have they shared their designs so that other manufacturing facilities can build them? If they did not... then you'll get the obsession with 3d printing.
Die cutter machines are expensive, but very common. Making the dies can be expensive, but it is routinely done all over the world.
I agree that Apple should share the design as well as the tooling designs. I have a friend that started mass producing masks and open-sourced the design: https://whitelabelfaceshields.com
This design is entirely die cut, which is incredibly fast. A machine could probably stamp out 10 of these in the time it takes to print one layer in a typical FDM printer.