What is Additive Manufacturing and why should it be used?

Additive Manufacturing is a term used for technologies that build 3D objects by adding layer onto layer of material. It includes methods such as 3D printing, rapid prototyping, direct digital marketing and layered manufacturing. Additive Manufacturing can be used to produce designs which would otherwise not be possible using more traditional methods.

One of the most significant advancements of Additive Manufacturing is the increased availability to commercially viable machines. The advancement and popularity of 3D printing has opened up a host of options for being able to design and manufacture parts which are more complicated than previous methods were able to produce. One example of a method which is being used increasingly more often is the use of internal architectures, these could not previously be manufactured using traditional methods. However with the increased use of additive manufacturing machines, which build a part layer by layer, lattice structures are now accesible.

Methods for developing optimal internal lattice structures have been available in commercial codes for over a decade, in products such as VR&D GENESIS. These methods have continued to develop with GRM developing add-ins to popular design tools to make Topology Optimisation more accessible to the everyday designer in SolidWorks (TruForm SW), Abaqus (TruForm) and ANSYS (GTAM/GSAM). However, these lattice designs have only been manufactural more recently with the ability to produce more complicated designs.

Examples of creating parts using additive manufacturing and topology optimisation include a bike fork end for a British Super Bike, and an airplane bearing bracket and a gas turbine blade which can be found below.

Case Studies

Superbike fork end with the MTC, using TruForm SW presented at OED2016
Video: Optimisation of a jet engine bracket using TruForm SW
Discussion: Making the connection between optimisation and additive manufacturing

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