SAMPE Journal - November/December 2021 - 85

Relatively untapped potential of AI/ML and advanced
hardware and software is going to propel AM further in the
coming years.
With complete control over the process parameters, it is
also possible to get different mechanical properties across
the part, even when printing with the same material, in the
same job. This combined with the chance to get the desired
properties for each part, probably serves the purpose and
reduces the burden a little bit, to keep looking for better
materials for AM?
Industries are also pushing the envelope on additive
manufacturing of
composites. Lightweight composite
structures are ubiquitous in diverse industrial domains such
as aerospace, automotive, renewable energy. Composites
are playing an important role in achieving improved
performance to weight ratio which can directly impact fuel
consumption and therefore help reduce CO2 emissions.
Besides their lower weight compared with metal or ceramics,
composites also can achieve greater durability and resist
corrosion and wear. All these properties combined make
them suitable for lightweight structural applications.
Light weighting is also the main driver for the use of AM
in automotive, to make it more sustainable. This has become
more of a factor in recent years with the introduction of EVs,
as these can benefit significantly from lighter cars & hence
better mileage.
While there are many advantages of composites, they
come with significant investment, particularly in regard to
tooling. Quite a few large AM companies as well as research
institutes are working on overcoming the challenges of
expensive and time consuming tooling.
Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) technology
has been manufacturing large-scale composite parts,
for applications such as tooling for wind turbines. They
can often manufacture these large structures at a lower
cost and faster rate than traditional manufacturing. With
increased demands, on the part properties, a single
material manufacturing, posed some limitations. Equipping
the BAAM with a dual material system enables articles to be
designed and printed with rigid and stiff exteriors and foam
interiors, as well as different stiffness materials for custom
impact and compression responses. This allows different
mechanical properties across the structure.
In the last thirty years of AM, we have seen the
technologies grow leaps & bounds, such that we have
a wide material range and robust production friendly
machines. To bring AM to the shop floor for mass additive
production, we will be seeing integration of AI/ML and IoT
with AM. Probably also a rise of software focused products
and consultants.
AM has been known for mass customization of products
with great success. We are already seeing customization in
in-soles for footwear, eyewear, dental braces and hearing
aids.
Customized insoles 3D printed by voxeljet
This is now also being extended to customised AM
machines for niche user applications.
We are also seeing a lot pf companies, breaking away
from the herd and boldly looking at the promise of hybrid
manufacturing.
One such example is this aircraft seat from Autodesk.
At 766 grams, the cast magnesium seats are 56 percent
lighter than conventional aluminium seats weighing 1,672
grams. Design optimization accounts for 30% of the weight
reduction, while the magnesium material makes up the
remaining 24%. Though this project only produced small
quantities of seats, researchers say it proved to be a viable
process that could scale up to 160 seats every two days.
Autodesk estimates replacing the traditional seats with the
magnesium ones could result in significant jet fuel savings
and a reduction in CO2 emissions from planes.
The seat frames remain a research project for now, but
Autodesk says it was successful in demonstrating the power
of combining Autodesk's generative design capabilities
and 3D printing technology with casting. In addition to
aerospace applications, the same combination could be
used in automotive, medical devices, industrial equipment
and other applications.
These companies, interested in AM, are, taking the time
and effort to really calculate the cost of adopting AM for
series, batch or mass production. Does it really make sense
to 3D print end use parts or probably a hybrid approach
works better, commercially as well as environmentally?
With the acquired knowledge and experience of traditional
processes, what if companies were to start their AM journey
with a hybrid approach? This brings them all the advantages
of AM, without the steep learning curve.
www. sampe.org
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
|
SAMPE JOURNAL |
85
http://www.sampe.org
SAMPE Journal - November/December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SAMPE Journal - November/December 2021
