3d printing

Is the future of manufacturing additive?

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The potential uses for 3D printing were widely misunderstood when it first appeared on the scene.

Tech pundits and futurologists joined forces to proclaim that 3D print would usher in a consumer revolution, as individuals took control of the means of production for themselves.

But, as we highlighted in our last blog, the benefits of 3D printing are now actually reshaping the manufacturing sector, rather than making it redundant.

The trend towards Additive Manufacturing

You can chart the change in the perceived benefits of 3D printing. As it changes from being seen as a consumer tool to a production tool, the use of the term ‘Additive Manufacturing’ (AM) dramatically rises.

This is how searches for AM are reported by Google Trends:

additive manufacturing

3D printing and AM are now used interchangeably as terms.

Peter Zelinski, the editor-in-chief of Additive Manufacturing magazine, reminds us we should bear in mind that AM also refers to other technologies and processes.

These include:

  • Rapid prototyping
  • Direct digital manufacturing
  • Layered manufacturing
  • Additive fabrication

Revealing synonyms

Synonyms, other than 3D printing, that are increasingly used for AM hint strongly at the benefits it offers – and that we will review further below:

  • Desktop manufacturing
    Suggests how AM frees production from the tyranny of tooling
  • Rapid manufacturing 
    Echoes rapid prototyping
    Suggests the speed of both prototyping and manufacture that 3D print offers
  • On-demand manufacturing
    Echoes on-demand printing
    Suggests the ability to cost-effectively create bespoke, tailored products

 

Additive Manufacturing

AM describes any technology that creates something by cumulatively adding layers of material.

The range of materials that can be used is ever-expanding and includes plastics, metals and concrete. In the very near future advances in biotechnology will inevitably see human tissue included in this list.

The basis of AM is computerised 3D modelling (or CAD). The data from this is used to add successive layers of liquid, powder or sheet material to manufacture a 3D object.

AM is fundamentally different to traditional manufacturing processes. These typically have a high up-front cost that is related to the need to create tooling.

  • Moulds are required by formative manufacturing technologies (such as injection moulding)
  • Cutting tools are needed for subtractive technologies (such as CNC machining).

The uses of Additive Manufacturing

This is what AM does well:

  • It is best suited to the production of single (or a limited number) of parts
  • It has an incredibly quick turnaround time
  • It has very low set-up costs
  • It can produce complex geometric shapes that are not producible using traditional manufacturing methods

In the past it was the case that the lower strength of objects it created could be an issue – and similarly it had proved wanting where functional parts with tight tolerances were called for – but this is increasingly not the case.

For instance in 2017, Siemens created the first gas turbine blades ever produced using 3D printing. Following performance testing under full-load conditions, these blades were found to survive temperatures above 1,250oC and pressures similar to the weight of a double-decker bus.

Siemens created the first gas turbine blades ever produced using 3D printing

Source: Future Makers

What’s more, the blades traditionally took over a year to make but, with 3D technology, they took just eight weeks.

Early uses of AM harnessed its benefits for rapid prototyping, but more recently it is being used to fabricate end-use products in aircraft, dental restorations, medical implants, automobiles and even fashion products.

“This technology will impact pretty much every market sector, whether it’s shoes, whether its clothes, automobile parts, aeroplane parts, medical devices or electronics.”

Michael Todd, Global Head of Innovation at Henkel

Source: 3D metal work printing (image courtesy of Davidfotografie/Arup).

The benefits of Additive Manufacturing

 

The speed of production and lack of tooling requirements are a big plus for manufacturers. They enable designers to rapidly and cost-effectively prototype designs for verification and testing. In the past it took days or even weeks to receive a prototype – now AM places a model in the designer’s hands within hours.

This speed is further enhanced by the efficiencies AM can offer. Most parts require a large number of manufacturing steps to be produced traditionally, but AM completes the build in just one step. Freed from the constraints of, for example, machining and welding, new designs and possibilities can be explored.

For single (or low) volume runs, AM’s lack of tooling offers distinct cost advantages. It removes the need for a skilled machine operator to be present during the manufacture.

It is these cost and time benefits that have led to many innovative uses of AM. Nowhere is this more so than in the production of customised products. It is now possible to reduce the cost of bespoke products such as dental implants, hearing aids, prosthetics and, perhaps even in the near future, body tissue.

As well as medical and dental uses this capability is also seeing AM used for specialised military, automotive and aeronautical parts, as well as for customised fits on sporting equipment and fashionwear.

Is additive manufacturing the future?

As consumer trends move toward customisation, and increased competition demands lower and lower lead times, there is a clear place for AM in the future.

And it’s looking like it can disrupt niche manufacturers requiring specialist tolerances and precision as well as those serving the mass, consumer market.

At present, there are two main factors that restrict its use:

  • Scalability
    AM still can’t cost-effectively manufacture higher volumes of products
  • Versatility
    The range of materials that AM can use for manufacture is expanding but, for example, it still struggles to handle true silicones

However, its capabilities are continually expanding.

And it’s here to stay.

Richard Hague, Professor of Innovative Manufacturing at the University of Nottingham, firmly stakes its place in the future of manufacturing:

“I don’t think additive manufacturing is an emerging technology any more. I think it’s emerged, and many people are already using it – and using it successfully.”

How is 3D printing freeing up design space?

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“If by some miracle some prophet could describe the future exactly as it was
going to take place, his predictions would sound so absurd, so far-fetched that everyone would laugh him to scorn.”
Arthur C. Clarke, author, speaking in 1964

Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke went on from making this observation to describe the forthcoming advent of 3D printing.

And, sure enough, it came to pass.

Today, as 3D printing quite literally breaks the design and manufacturing mould across a range of sectors, it’s time to assess its true impact and where it may take us next.

The path that 3D printing has taken bears very little resemblance to what the prophets foresaw. Throughout the early years of the new millennium, futurists prophesised it would usher in a new consumer society. In this brave new world, the need to visit shops to buy things would be gone – and so too would the need to rely on online retailers’ massive warehouses to deliver our goods.

Soon, we were told, we would all be downloading a design file to our personal 3D printer and manufacturing our products – exactly as we wanted them to be – from the comfort of our homes.

Of course, this consumer revolution never happened.

However, a sea-change is quietly washing over the design, manufacturing and production sectors, one that is not deluded tech fantasy, but very real indeed.

Richard Hague, professor of innovative manufacturing at the University of Nottingham, compares the hype and reality of 3D printing with the dotcom crash of the late 90s.

“There were all these expectations about what the internet would do, and then the hype disappeared. But meanwhile, in the background, people were forging ahead, and actually some major industries emerged after that point. I think that’s where we are now.”

We’re going to look in more detail in our next blog at how 3D printing has led to additive manufacturing. We’ll chart how its disruptive potential is transforming the processes used – and products made – by sectors as diverse as medical, military, automotive, aerospace and electronics.

First, though, in this blog we’re going to highlight how 3D printing has also been freeing up the design space in which new products can be imagined and then tested.

3D printing and design

Let’s start with the basics.

There are a number of ways to print in 3D, but all are based on creating a digital model as a physical three-dimensional object by the gradual addition of material a layer at a time.

It is this process of addition that makes 3D printing a radically different way of manufacturing. Traditional technologies are based on subtraction from materials (such as CNC machining) or forming these existing materials (such as injection moulding).

One of the key benefits of 3D printing is that no special tooling or moulds are required – and this leads to many of the benefits we discuss below and in our next blog.

The 3D printing process is initiated directly from the digital model that forms the blueprint of the manufactured object. This model is sliced by the printer’s software into incredibly thin, 2-D layers and these are translated into the machine language (G-code) that the printer executes.

It is at this stage that 3D printers differ in their operation. For example, desktop FDM printers melt plastic filaments that are laid down through a nozzle, whereas large industrial SLS machines use lasers to melt (or sinter) thin layers of metal or plastic powders.

For more information about 3D printing technologies, this excellent guide from 3D Hubs details the differences.

Despite the possible production speeds of as little as four hours, it’s important to note that 3D printed parts often require some post-processing (usually manual) to achieve the desired level of finish.

3D printing and design benefits

Generally speaking, 3D printing is the best option when:

  • A single (or only a few) parts are required
  • A quick turnaround time and a low-cost is needed
  • When the part geometry cannot be produced with any other manufacturing technology
  • When high material requirements and tight tolerances for functional parts are not essential

Faster verification of designs

One of the main advantages of 3D printing is undoubtedly the speed at which parts can be produced compared to traditional manufacturing methods. The lead time on an injection moulding die alone can be a finger-tapping matter of weeks.

Complex designs can be uploaded from a CAD model and printed in a matter of hours. This offers designers rapid verification of design ideas.

It cuts out the need to create tools to create parts and also places the capabilities of production within the working space of the designer themselves – as opposed to at a plant that may be geographically remote from them.

Efficiencies

3D printing allows designers to manufacture products and parts as efficiently as possible, cutting down on the number of manufacturing steps required by traditional technologies. These may include cutting, welding, polishing, drilling, mounting, sandblasting, priming and painting. 3D printing can complete all these steps as one, with no interaction from the machine operator.

Cost-savings for prototypes

Particularly where labour costs are concerned, 3D printing can slash the design costs for manufacturing prototypes.

Post-processing aside, the majority of 3D printers only require an operator to press a button. Compared to traditional manufacturing’s reliance on highly skilled machinists, the labour costs for a 3D printer barely register.

This means that for the creation of prototypes that verify the form and fit of a product, 3D printing is significantly cheaper than other methods.

Freeing up design space

The restrictions of traditional manufacturing on what can and can’t be made hold much less relevance for 3D printing. Design requirements such as draft angles, undercuts and tool access do not apply to designers using additive manufacture.

This gives designers a large amount of design freedom and enables the creation of very complex geometries.

Customisation

Another freedom that 3D printing allows is the ability to completely customise designs. As additive manufacturing technologies excel in building single parts one at a time, they are perfectly suited for one-off production of unique, bespoke designs.

Source: Wired 

This ability has transformed the medical and dental industry to realise the manufacture of custom prosthetics, implants and dental aids. High-level sporting gear can now be tailored to fit an athlete perfectly and the fashion industry is also proving quick to realise the custom design benefits of 3D printing.

Source: 3D natives

The brave new world of 3D printing

We opened with a quote from Arthur C. Clarke suggesting that prophets of the future risk appearing ‘so far-fetched that everyone laughs them to scorn’.

The design benefits of 3D printing are not far-fetched hype: they are here, they are happening and they are making a real difference to the world we live in.

In our next blog we’ll look at how these benefits are not only transforming design but manufacture itself.