Windows 7 Download Roadmap for Additive Fabricatio

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Roadmap for Additive Fabrication
by Joseph Flaherty on July 20, 2009

A group of industry leaders and academics recently released a report called the “Roadmap for Additive Fabrication – Identifying the Future of Freeform Processing“. An impressive work weighing in at over 100 pages it covers the industry as it exists and identifies potential market and research opportunities for the next 5-10 years. The following are interesting segments from the report:
3D Printing Tech Needs An Umbrella Name
Freeform fabrication,Office 2007, direct digital manufacturing, rapid manufacturing,Windows 7 Activation, additive fabrication, additive manufacturing, have all been used as names to describe technologies commonly known as 3D printing. The new ASTM F42 Technical Committee settled on Additive Manufacturing as the choice for its standards document.
When is Additive Fabrication Cost Effective?
“The cost of machines, materials, and maintenance is seen as an obstacle to wider adoption of AM technology. According to Greg Stein of Northrop Grumman, aerospace companies often require a 3:1 return on its investment.”
Since additive fabrication is still more costly than traditional machining it will have to be turnaround times that create the cost savings.
Aerospace Could Be A Huge Additive Fabrication Market
According to the report the materials currently available additive manufacturing systems are not up to demanding aerospace standards. Also there is not enough documentation on material properties, which can make it difficult to implement in highly regulated industries.
“According to Stein,Windows 7 Serial, his company has identified 1,Windows 7 Download,400 parts that could be manufactured by AM for one of its military aircraft programs if the right materials were available.”
That is a big potential market and the report also notes that sintered metal turbine blades are also being tested. Unfortunately, no indication of why additive manufacturing was particularly helpful in this use case was given.
Military Applications
Military applications are particularly exciting. Imagine you are cut off from supply lines and strategically important assets are in need of repair. You could use additive manufacturing technology to fabricate replacement parts for vehicles, armor, robots, and the production of spare parts in remote locations.
Automotive And Motorsports
This is an area with great potential, but currently additive manufacturing is largely used in the product development phase. Some direct digital manufacturing is done with high end racing motorcycles and F1 race cars, but nothing in wide scale production.
Personalized Medicine Has Never Been This Personal
Applications for additive manufacturing are being researched and implemented in the fields of medical implant design and manufacturing, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine. Some great stats from the report: “Two companies in Italy have used AM to manufacture more than 10,000 metal hip implants, thousands of which have been implanted into human beings. Meanwhile, Walter Reed Army Medical Center has produced 37 cranial implants using electron beam melting, an AM process from Arcam of Sweden.” In addition, “Rapid Dentistry” is quickly becoming a mainstream practice. With this process your teeth are scanned and perfect replacement teeth and fillings can be created on demand.
Made In The USA?
“(AM techniques) could well become the enabling technology for bringing back manufacturing to high wage economies… Without the need for production tooling, the flexibility and reconfigurabilty of the systems means that the same machine can be used for the manufacturing of different components simultaneously and sequentially… With increases in speed and lower cost systems and materials, the barrier to entry will decrease with the very real potential of local, hub based systems follow model of document printing, but for 3D parts.”
This assumes that machines are capable of printing advanced mechanisms, circuits, and other complex assemblies. Until that time the realities of manufacturing will continue to favor low cost regions.
Machine Improvements
Laser Point vs. Mask Manufacturing
An interesting area of research suggested by the participants was a focus on “Mask” based production where entire layers of a model are produced at once. In contrast with the dominant method of production where models are built with laser precision, literally point by point by depositing or sintering small amounts of material. Fundamental rethinking of the technology is possible and likely required for major breakthroughs to occur.
Better Materials
Materials that behave uniformly, have physical properties close to their traditional counterparts are required for the mainstreaming of additive manufacturing.
Better Processes
The manufacturing processes also need to be improved. For instance,Windows 7, adding sensors within the build chamber of the 3D printer would help identify problem areas and stop potential problems in manufacturing.
Open Architecture
Each manufacture locks down their hardware and software making it difficult for researchers and those in industry to make improvements on the technology. Standardization of software and hardware where practical would help make improvements to the technology.
The report chronicles the development of an exciting technology and puts forth a plausible view of the future that will be beyond the imagination of most people today.
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Tagged as: 3d printing, CAD, Custom Manufacturing, Technology