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FEATURE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING/3D PRINTING


According to Get It Made, design engineers and


manufacturers are now beginning to fully embrace the fast-growing


capabilities of 3D printing innovation, seeing it as a


sustainable, efficient, affordable and


game-changing option


3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY: WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS?


consumption for product development and production. This is why 3D printing will play a crucial role in the future of manufacturing. 3D printing uses only the exact required amount of material to create a part or product. This not only makes it more cost efficient over the full lifecycle of the part, but also helps to protect the environment by creating less waste when compared to other subtractive forms of fabrication, such as milling or laser cutting. It has been claimed that additive manufacturing


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dramatically reduces the production of scrap waste – sometimes by as much as 90% compared to traditional manufacturing. In the case of multi-material 3D printing, like 3D printed electronics, there are less part counts while electrical and mechanical functionality is combined to give a more streamlined, efficient


s raw material costs continue to rise worldwide, engineers and manufacturers face mounting pressure to reduce material


and sustainable production process. Another key advantage of 3D printing is low


upfront investment as no tooling is required, making low volume production and one-off parts more economical. This proves a particularly attractive benefit for low volume production as the part design can be changed at any time, quickly and easily. Conventional manufacturing techniques, such as injection moulding, require high initial investments and minimum order quantities, exposing businesses to more financial risk. Injection moulding requires more time to produce parts, whereas 3D printing – as a single step manufacturing process – can manufacture parts within hours. This speeds up the prototyping process to enable faster completion of each stage to cut lead times.


OPPORTUNITIES IN AEROSPACE Primarily developed for rapid prototyping owing to its quick turnround of manufactured parts at low cost, and remaining one of its primary uses, 3D printing technology has continued to disrupt the manufacturing industry with new innovations. One notable advantage of 3D printing is the design freedom it offers, enabling manufacturers to create high- strength lightweight structures where conventional production processes fail. Aerospace, military and defence


sectors, for example, are increasingly relying on tougher yet lighter materials for demanding environments. They are therefore turning to the compelling weight and cost saving


48 DESIGN SOLUTIONS MAY 2023


benefits being delivered by AM. A good case in point is General Electric’s (GE)


recent aerospace project involving its work on new Catalyst aircraft engines. Taking a design that originally required 855 engine components, GE reduced it down to 12 titanium 3D-printed parts while retaining the same functionality of older models. This not only significantly lowered production costs but also reduced the weight, consequently helping to cut emissions. Thanks to 3D printing, the improvements helped to reduce overall weight by 5% and improve brake-specific fuel consumption by 1%.


DESIGNS ON MINIMISING COST While 3D printing can help keep costs lower, further simple adjustments can also be made so that manufacturers can minimise the overall cost of a part. One way is to consider the design element of the part, as Get It Made’s founder and director Luke Smoothy explains: “Firstly, solid designs with a lot of material are expensive, with a significant proportion of the costs involved in Get It Made’s 3D printing services related to the amount of material used. An effective way for manufacturers to reduce the amount of material used is to hollow out the centre of the design to create an outer shell. Another way to lower costs is to optimise the design. Unlike a traditional manufacturing process such as CNC machining, adding extra holes to your part can reduce the part cost instead of increasing it. This is because less material is used with a reduced production time.” He continued: “You can also reduce the size of the part to keep budgets on track. The part size


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