Additive Manufacturing

The topic of additive manufacturing came up today and I really enjoy learning about how it is evolving. For those that don't know, additive manufacturing is the next up and coming thing in technology and it is going to be very revolutionary. Well...it kind of already is. The way additive works is that instead of taking a piece of raw material and removing the material you don't want until you have your desired shape, you simply create your part by adding layers upon layers of the material. The most common 3D printing that is done is with plastics but technology has advanced so much that we are now 3D printing with metals.

Pretty neat right? Saw the intricate shapes? Watch below to get a glimpse of how they are printed. This particular video shows a machine where the platform spins to make circular parts.

This type on the bottom is the one that I know more about because I took classes on it.

Why is additive manufacturing such a big deal? All designs that exist today, whether it be a jet engine or a car, look and are created and assembled the way they are today because of manufacturing processes. There are things that conventional manufacturing simply can't do. So you might have a really cool design that is lightweight and super efficient but if manufacturing can't make it, I'm sorry to say, it is a no go. Introducing the beauty of additive. You no longer have constraints on what you can build. You can now let your mind run as wild as you want and the printer will make sure to do it since it creates each layer at a time. Don't get me wrong, there are some limitations for additive but there are work arounds.

You can understand from this why this would be an exciting topic in the engineering world. It is going to change the playing field big time!

One thing that was brought up in the leadership meeting was a new form of 3D printing. Like i mentioned 3D printing works by adding layers of materials over other layers and work their way up. Like the third video you usually at the layers upward. You create a layer, lower the platform, add powder over it, sinter the powder , and repeat the process until the part is complete. Like in the video you then go back and dig out your part that is laying within the powder.

The new technique now works from top to bottom while a machine pulls the part out of the raw material. The way they like to describe it is think of the Terminator movie when the bad guy comes out of the puddle beneath him.

The company Carbon3D is the one behind this new technique. I have to say it is pretty neat. This new technique helps improve the surface roughness that the final part has since it reduces the distance between layers quite a lot.

 Watch below as they print an Eiffel Tower out of plastic.



Isn't that cool. I am really excited about this technology. I know my company is investing a lot of time in it because it truly believes in it and I do too. I can't wait to see how this technology develops over the years.

XOXO,
Lina