Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) is a technology that produces three-dimensional parts layer by layer from a variety of materials. It has been rapidly gaining popularity as a true manufacturing process in recent years. In the AM process, a digital data file is transmitted to a production machine, which ultimately translates an engineering design into a 3D-printed part. Initially, AM was utilized as a rapid prototyping method — an accelerated method to create (mostly plastic) parts before manufacturing by well-accepted methodologies, such as injection molding, casting, forming, joining, etc.

Metal-based AM processes were developed in the 1990s. Soon after, several companies launched laser sintering systems that could 3D print metal parts directly, thus providing an alternative to direct, multi-stage manufacturing processes. Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an AM technique that uses a laser as the energy source to melt powder (metal or polymer). The laser targets points in space defined by a 3D model, and binds the powder material together to create a solid structure.

Metal AM offers a number of benefits over traditional manufacturing, including:

• Creating parts and structures that are impossible to manufacture with traditional methods, e.g., parts with intricate internal structures or complex organic shapes. A single AM-generated part can replace an entire multi-part assembly. Also, parts may be designed and produced for better performance and with more efficient use of materials.

• Manufacturing replacement metal parts on-demand, without the need for an entire factory and multiple machines.

• Producing of novel materials with unique properties.

• Replacing worn out or broken parts that are no longer manufactured. Deposition processes enable new functionality to be built on top of existing parts, opening up new opportunities for the remanufacturing of components.