Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing technology is a process that creates objects by adding layers of material one at a time.

Unlike conventional manufacturing processes, which involve the subtraction of material or formative moulding or shaping processes, additive manufacturing processes add material to create an object from scratch.

This process is often used to develop prototypes or small batches of products, as it is more efficient and less expensive than other manufacturing methods.

There are many benefits to using additive manufacturing over other manufacturing methods, but it’s not suitable for everyone as the end to end journey from design to finished part requires a high degree of process knowledge and application specific customisation.

On the picture up top, you see a categorisation of the majority of used 3d-printing technologies including some of the better known companies in the space, that offer printers.
Ref Image: https://www.voxelmatters.com/3d-hubs-publishes-complete-3d-printing-technologies-infographic/

Ref Image: https://www.roboze.com/en/resources/introduction-to-additive-manufacturing-definition-how-it-works-applications.html

On the left side you see the rough steps involved in 3d printing. It all starts by designing for additive and print preparation, like slicing (see my page to computational design). Subsequently the print ready file is sent to the machine to be printed. Here depending on the manufacturing method chosen material is extruded, cured, sintered, or welded. I will give more detail about the particularities later in this page.

In the image below the schematics for the primary manufacturing methods are shown.

Example: Custom wheelchair cushions

Let's look at a concrete comparison between different print technologies for one specific application: Custom Cushions for Wheelchairs

In this example of a soft polymer latticing application where lattices are used as digital foam replacement the end user needs to decide what route to choose for his or her products.

In the table below I show an exemplary comparison table, balancing business critical factors like cost against aesthetics and functionality.

The table is made up of three main categories used to compare the primary printing technologies for the given soft polymer latticing application: Material (including Cost and Durability), Printer (including Operating Costs, and Build Size), as well as finally the high level design considerations for the computational design of Lattice or TPMS structures. It is crucial to point out that certain design choices will positively or negatively affect the choice of printing technology. So for instance trying to print beam lattices with extrusion based technologies is likely not a good idea, as this will result in long print times and probably less attractive designs (aesthetically spoken).

For a more detailed breakdown of these tradeoffs or specific questions to your additive manufacturing or design project, don't hesitate to reach me through my contacts page.

My Journey in Additive Manufacturing

Step 1 (2017):
Researching Multi-material LBPF/ SLM and its sustainability at
Fraunhofer IGCV, Germany

Step 2 (2018):
FFF printed hand
prostheses with Victoria Hand Project, Canada

Step 3 (2019):
Implementing Machine Learning powered Predictive Maintenance for Space Part Production leveraging OPC UA at ArianeGroup, Germany

Step 4 (2021):
Enabling more than 20 customers in their adoption of 3d printing in various verticals ranging from med-tech, over energy to aerospace sectors as Director of Engineering at Hyperganic, Germany/ Singapore

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