Additive manufacturing (AM), also called 3D printing, is a method of creating physical objects layer by layer. Hobbyists and manufacturers alike have embraced AM because it can produce one-off objects without the upfront time or expense that high-volume manufacturing requires. It's been especially useful for producing prototypes to test designs, and some find AM helpful for creating hard-to-find replacement parts.
Injection moulding creates parts that may cost pennies to produce, but setting up the mould and other manufacturing steps are cost-prohibitive if you only need a single copy of a part. A stereolithography machine, by contrast, uses ultraviolet light to harden (cure) layers of photosensitive polymers.
How additive manufacturing works
Think about how you print a letter on a laser printer — one line, then another, then more, until the letter is complete. Similarly, additive manufacturing starts with a base layer of material, followed by middle layers, and eventually the final layer completes the object.
This often looks like a robot with a glue gun, applying hot plastic to a platform — but there are dozens of other ways to precisely layer material. Laser sintering, for example, uses light to fuse particles together in a powder bed. No matter the approach, once the print job is complete, you remove the object, clean off supporting material, and apply whatever finishing steps you want.
Beyond prototypes
Why doesn't everyone use AM? It may take hours to finish an object — fine in the development lab, but it doesn't scale for big jobs. Once everything is in place for injection moulding, it can deliver a single part in seconds, which matters if you need 100,000 widgets by Christmas. For precision work like medical applications, computer-guided CNC milling might be more accurate. That said, many design shops and manufacturing companies already have a 3D printer on site, or work with companies that print objects from a 3D CAD design and mail the part back.
CAD meets artificial intelligence
Newer 3D printers use metal, ceramic, nylon, concrete and more — a flexible method that can produce objects impossible with traditional manufacturing. Combined with other innovations such as generative design, it opens a whole new world of design possibilities.
Generative design uses artificial intelligence (AI) to suggest design options to product developers. Engineers define objectives and constraints for a model, and the software shows the best designs that meet those requirements — robots partnering with designers to create the next product. The end result can be optimised for any fabrication technique, including additive manufacturing, producing organic, sophisticated shapes that meet critical design specs with machine-like efficiency.
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