Additive Manufacturing (AM) has been around for about 20 years but has only recently become more widely accessible to manufacturers and consumers. This is mostly due to advances in technology and a massive reduction in cost. It is a process by which objects of geometric complexity are built from scratch, created by adding layers of material, layer by layer, until the object is complete. It has the potential to revolutionise the way we produce and manufacture products whilst reducing wastage and costs in fact, the 3D printing industry is expected to be worth over £8bn by 2020. One of the major factors to its appeal is the ability to make one-off, or mass produced items for a similar price per unit. Considering one of the major economic shifts in manufacturing in recent years is outsourcing low-skilled production to less economically developed nations with lower wage rates, this has the ability to completely change that aspect of the industry too.
Additive manufacturing also comes in several guises and disciplines, the most common being 3D Printing, but also Rapid Prototyping (RP), Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM), Layered Manufacturing and Additive Fabrication. All work on the same principle though, designs are created on a CAD (Computer Aided Design) or 3D design package which in turn tells an AM printer when and where to add the relevant layers to create a finished product. The way in which the printer does the job can vary depending which type you use but the finished product is still the same.
The materials used in AM printers usually consist of either plastic, metal or concrete polymers which enable users to create anything from customised parts to buildings. Recent examples of items created by this process include items of furniture, tools and kitchen items. On the more extreme end of the spectrum we have created parts for a nuclear reactor, a (plastic) baby foetus, jet & plane parts, prosthetic limbs and houses. To add to the craziness of these objects, there are even plans to create body parts and organs as well as moon bases using this technology!
So we’ve established that this is an exciting new(ish) technology in which, quite literally, anything is possible. It has the ability to change the way we act and think about manufacturing in the future and can save a lot of money in costs and reduced waste but are there any drawbacks? As with any new technology, there will always be areas in which we need to be cautious. We have already seen the blueprints released to make a plastic gun capable of shooting bullets and thankfully, we’ve seen government responses to try and reduce this kind of usage (it is illegal in the UK to produce weapons or weapons parts without a licence) however, with the age of the internet, this will be a difficult task to monitor and enforce.
Another issue will be Intellectual Property and licensing, as it is so easy to 3D scan and print an object the possibility of counterfeit goods is likely to increase. This also leads to questions of health and safety, if a person made a 3D helmet and it didn’t protect them, who is accountable? The blueprint designer, the printer manufacturer or the printing material provider? These issues also apply to the medicinal side of 3D printing with the possibility of creating organs or body parts, as well as drugs, using printers. Who will ensure the quality control of this and how would we make sure people are printing paracetamol rather than potassium cyanide?
Whilst there are ethical and legislative issues surrounding Additive Manufacturing as a whole, there is no denying that it is an exciting time in manufacturing and the benefits will no doubt outweigh the negatives in this area of the industry.
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