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    The Future of Manufacturing: Unmasking the Power of Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing)

    Additive manufacturing is a technology worthy to discuss in Industry 4.0. It can bring high elasticity into the product process, create new business models for the manufacturing industry, and make products more innovative. Its progress has brought many impacts to various industries. This article will take you to understand what additive manufacturing is.

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    What is Additive Manufacturing?

    Additive manufacturing is what we commonly call "3D printing", which refers to any process of printing three-dimensional objects. Additive manufacturing is a process of adding materials continuously from the bottom layer through computer control. Any shape or geometrical feature can be printed, which in turn produces complex shapes that cannot be produced by traditional machining methods.

    The complexity, cost, process, and time of additive manufacturing are very different from the general traditional process methods. As the complexity of the product increases, the cost will increase relatively in the general traditional manufacturing process, however, additive manufacturing is a process growing out of nothing, therefore, the cost of the manufacturing will depend on the number of materials used in the process. In terms of efficiency, with the advancement of technology, new technologies can reduce the process of additive manufacturing from hours to minutes.

    In fact, there were many 3D printing methods in the late 1970s. The initial 3D printers were expensive, cumbersome, and very limited in their ability to print.

    Afterward, many incremental technology inputs were developed into extrusion type, metal circuit type, particle type, powder inkjet needle type, additive type, and photopolymerization type according to different processes.


    Advantages of additive manufacturing

    • Parts merger: A single complex component can be designed to replace multiple components, reducing the number of components.
    • Cost reduction: Parts can be manufactured directly without any additional processing.
    • Freedom: Additive manufacturing is not limited by traditional manufacturing methods and can combine and apply new rules of design.
    • Customization: It can be manufactured according to the engineer's idea, and it can also provide rapid design for the production process.
    • Assistant tools: The additive manufacturing process can be integrated into the existing process,  thereby reducing steps, cost, and time-to-market.

    Applications of additive manufacturing

    Review of development and evolution, 3D printing has gradually developed many business models, and it can also process more and different materials, such as ceramics, carbon fiber, various metals or glass, etc. The technological breakthrough has increased the application range of 3D printing, and even a construction company uses 3D printing technology to build a house, which not only costs less than traditional construction but also makes the house stronger due to its high density and shape characteristics. At present, the technology of additive manufacturing is still developing rapidly, and various industries are expanding for different application areas.


    Customization is a major advantage for additive manufacturing, and it also has huge potential. Nowadays, dentists can scan the shape of the customer's tooth root through the device and use titanium and zirconia to print out by 3D printing to create a high-fidelity replica that can perfectly fit the shape of the teeth. There are also teams abroad using ready-made electronic components combined with 3D printing technology to make lower-cost hearing aids to help people who cannot buy expensive hearing ones.


    Besides the cases above, research on organ transplantation has begun in medical treatment. In the medical field, research on organ transplantation has begun to start at present. There are small hearts produced by 3D printing at present. Although they cannot be used on the human body, with the advancement of technology in the future, 3D printing will have a great impact on our lives.

    Challenges of additive manufacturing

    Although the development of additive manufacturing has been rapid in recent years, when the designed product is printed, it is often caused by a lack of engineering ability or basic scientific knowledge, which causes the entity to be different from the imagination and cannot really achieve the functional purpose. Moreover, the high cost of equipment and materials is the biggest problem at present, which makes the finished products very expensive, such a problem may make the life of this industry not very long.

    Conclusion

    Additive manufacturing has been applied in many fields and has had a great impact on people's lives which can even improve the dilemma encountered in medical treatment. The advancement of this technology brings the challenges of transformation. However, it makes businesses span different industries to provide more products and services, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of the industry. Most importantly, it successfully shortens the distance between different industries.

    Main image photo by CTIMES

    References: What is Metal Manufacturing? /oosga

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