Additive manufacturing (AM) technology is also known as three-dimensional (3D) printing or rapid prototyping (RP) or layered manufacturing (LM) or solid freedom fabrication (SFF). Additive Manufacturing has taken a hold on our collective imagination and is set to fundamentally change the way things are made.
Additive Manufacturing is a process by which an object is produced in an additive fashion, layer-by-layer. By using computer-aided design (CAD) software or 3D scanning a digital 3D model is made, individual layers are sliced from it, then tool path code is supplied for a 3D printing machine. Model is recreated in the physical world from the base slice to the top using a machine that implements a specific process depending on the exact technology until the object is complete.
Additive manufacturing might implement seven different types of processes for 3D printing which are binder jetting, directed energy deposition(DED), material extrusion, material jetting, powder bed fusion, sheet lamination, and vat photo-polymerization. For several reasons, 3D printing has been heralded as a breakthrough in manufacturing, including the ability to automate production, directly fabricate CAD models without the need for expensive tooling, and create complex geometries impossible with other manufacturing methods.
Advantages of additive manufacturing: Design freedom (AM can essentially make any geometry with no restrictions), No tooling (AM can make parts from start to finish with no other tooling required), Saves material (Due to near net shape processing, it creates less waste than machining), Versatility (Easy to change design and complexity), Part optimization (No design restriction means parts can be made lighter and stronger).
Models are quickly employed to supply information about form, fit, and function. AM can be used to significantly shorten product development times and costs when used in conjunction with other technologies to form a process chain. Some of these technologies are developed that the output is suitable for end-use. Parts can now also be directly made in a variety of metals using high-power laser technology. Now every person can come with an idea to custom made almost everything and become a reality with ease. AM technology is revolutionizing product development and manufacturing. The “rapid” character of the whole product development process relies much on the fact that we are using computers throughout. With AM What We See Is What We Build, building within an AM machine is generally performed in a single step, regardless of the complexity of parts to be built.
The workshop can become much cleaner, more streamlined, and more versatile than before by the adoption of this technology. Companies have already created facilities that are dedicated to additive manufacturing of parts and this technology is on the horizon for being a standard part of manufacturing. The aerospace industry is using AM machines to build parts that will go into engines. As the price of 3D printers is continually dropping, it won’t be long before 3D printers become a standard household item. AM now can make implants that fit optimally into a patient, as well as create new implants that could not be made before thus making the globalized engineering life-changing in the medical industry. It will give the ability to manufacture what was once not possible by incorporating it into companies.