Introduction of Additive Manufacturing Technologies  

----Frontiers of Engineering 2011: Reports on Leading-Edge

Engineering from the 2011 Symposium

 

 

Carolyn Seepersad

Michael Siemer

 

Additive manufacturing technologies enable layer-wise fabrication of complex parts directly from CAD files without part-specific tooling. Examples of additive manufacturing technologies include stereolithography, fused deposition modeling, 3D printing, selective laser melting, laser engineered net shape processes, ultrasonic consolidation, and selective laser sintering. Selective laser sintering, for example, fabricates parts in a layer-wise manner by selectively fusing powdered material in regions defined by the part’s cross-sectional geometry.

 

Additive manufacturing offers many strategic advantages, including increased design freedom for building complex internal and external part geometries that cannot be made in any other way and the abilities to rapidly iterate through design permutations, build functional parts in small lot sizes for end-user customization or bridge manufacturing, and repair expensive parts for aerospace and other industries. Brent Stucker (University of Louisville) begins with an overview of additive manufacturing processes and their impact on industrial practice and academic research. He provides insight on the basic principles of additive manufacturing, the frontiers of our capabilities for fabricating functional parts, and the impact that additive manufacturing is having on design and manufacturing. Next, Brett Lyons(Boeing) describes a number of additive manufacturing’s applications in the aerospace industry. Some of its industry-changing capabilities include light weighting via part reduction and honeycomb-like structures and development of flight-ready materials with aerospace levels of repeatability and reliability.

 

Additive manufacturing has the potential to revolutionize the medical industry by fabricating implants, prosthetics, orthotics, and other devices that are customized for an individual user’s body. For example, Walter Reed Army Medical Copyright. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Frontiers of Engineering 2011: Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2011 Symposium. 4 FRONTIERS OF ENGINEERING Center is currently fabricating customized cranial implants for injured soldiers, with titanium implants customized for a specific patient’s cranial profile and injury. In the third paper, Andrew Christensen (Medical Modeling Inc.) discusses medical applications of additive manufacturing.

 

The final paper by Hod Lipson (Cornell University) describes the challenges involved in designing parts for additive manufacturing, including the need for advanced design techniques and tools that can tailor not only the shape of additively manufactured objects but also their composition and functionality. He discusses some of the application frontiers of additive manufacturing, including biological, culinary, and mechatronics applications.

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