Introduction

Jasvinder Singh
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 Manufacturing is the processing of raw materials or parts into
finished goods through the use of tools, human labor, machinery, and
chemical processing. Manufacturing technology in general is divided
into three fundamental clusters:

 Subtractive manufacturing technology,

 Formative manufacturing technology, and
 Additive manufacturing technology.
 Additive Manufacturing (AM) refers to a process by which digital 3D
design data is used to build up a component in layers by depositing
material.
 The term AM encompasses many technologies including subsets like
3D Printing, Rapid Prototyping (RP), Direct Digital Manufacturing
(DDM), layered manufacturing and additive fabrication.
 AM application is limitless. Early use of AM in the form of Rapid
Prototyping focused on preproduction visualization models.
Principle of layer technology, example: sculpture puzzle
Figure: CAD image of a teacup with further images showing the effects of
building using different layer thicknesses
1 CAD
2 STL convert
3. Slicing
4 File transfer to machine
5 Machine setup
6 Build
7 Remove
8 Post-process
9 Application
Generic process of CAD to part, showing all 8 stages
 The geometry of each layer is obtained solely and directly from the 3D
computer aided design (CAD) data of the part (commonly called a virtual
product model).
 There are no product-related tools necessary and consequently no tool
change.
 The material properties of the part are generated during the build process.
 The parts can be built in any imaginable orientation. There is no need for
clamping, thus eliminating the clamping problem of subtractive
manufacturing technologies. Nevertheless, some processes need support
structures, and the orientation of the part influences the parts’ properties.
 Today, all AM processes can be run using the same so-called STL (or AMF)
data structure, thus eliminating data exchange problems with
preprocessors as used in subtractive manufacturing.
Basic structure of additive manufacturing/3D printing technology and its subcategories.
 Rapid prototyping (RP) is the application of AM/3DP technology to
make prototypes, models, and mock-ups, all of them being physical
parts but not products.
 They only mimic isolated properties of the latter product in order to
verify the engineering design and to allow the testing of selected
product capabilities and thus to improve and speed up the product
development process.
 Rapid prototyping again is subdivided into solid imaging
or concept modeling, and functional prototyping.
 Solid imaging or concept modeling: If a rapid prototyping part is
made mainly for 3D visualization, it is called a solid image, a
concept model, a mock-up, or even a rapid mock-up.
 If a part has a single or some of the functionalities of the latter
product, it can be used to verify this aspect of the engineering
design. Consequently it is called a functional prototype (and the
process functional prototyping accordingly).
 Automated Fabrication
 Freeform Fabrication or Solid Freeform Fabrication
 Layer-based Manufacturing
 Stereolithography or 3D Printing
 Rapid Prototyping
Often used terms:
Additive Additive Manufacturing (AM)
Additive Layer Manufacturing
(ALM) Additive Digital
Manufacturing (DM)
Layer Layer Based Manufacturing Layer
Oriented Manufacturing
Layer Manufacturing

Rapid Rapid Technology, Rapid Prototyping Rapid Tooling, Rapid

Manufacturing
Digital Digital Fabrication, Digital Mock-Up

• 3D Printing, 3D Modeling

• Direct Manufacturing, Direct Tooling

 Elimination of design constraints
 Allow parts to be produced with complex geometry with no additional costs
related to complexity
 Build speed; reduction of lead time
 Flexibility in design
 No expensive tooling requirements
 Dimensional accuracy
 Wide range of materials (polymers, metals, ceramics)
 Well suited to the manufacture of high value replacement and repair parts
 Green manufacturing, clean, minimal waste
 Part size
 Production series: Generally suitable for unitary or small series and is not relevant
for mass production. For small sized parts, series up to 25000 parts/year are
already possible.
 Material choice: Non weldable metals cannot be processed by additive
manufacturing and difficult-to-weld alloys require specific approaches.
 Material properties: Parts made by additive manufacturing tend to show anisotropy
in the Z axis (construction direction).
 The densities of 99.9% can be reached, there can be some residual internal
porosities.
 Mechanical properties are usually superior to cast parts but in general inferior to
wrought parts.
 • Product Development
• Volume-independent
production
• Mixed production
containing different
volumes
• Individualized
Production

Phases of product development in correlation to the application levels

of AM/3DP.
 Binder Jetting
 Directed Energy Deposition
 Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS)
 Laser Deposition Welding (LDW)
 Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM)

 Material Extrusion
 Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM)

 Powder Bed Fusion

 Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)
 Selective Laser Melting (SLM) or Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS)
 Electron Beam Melting (EBM)

 Sheet Lamination
 Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM)

 Vat Polymerisation
 Stereolithography (SLA)
 Digital light Processing (DLP)

 Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (Now known as Directed Energy Deposition-Arc (DED-arc))
 Material is extruded through a nozzle or orifice in tracks or beads, which are then
combined into multi-layer models. Common varieties include heated thermoplastic
extrusion (similar to a hot glue gun) and syringe dispensing.
 Key Features:
 Loading of material
 Liquification of the material
 Extrusion
 Plotting according to a predefined path and in a controlled manner
 Bonding of the material to itself or secondary build materials to form a coherent solid
structure
 Inclusion of support structures to enable complex geometrical features
layer lines of an FDM part
 Build parameters
 Build size (200 x 200 x 200 mm3,1000 x 1000 x 1000 mm3)
 Layer height (50 and 400 microns, 200 microns is common)
 Printing Speed (maximum claimed 500mm/hr)
 Melting Temperature (100°C to 300°C).

 Warping
 Large flat areas, Thin protruding features, Sharp corners, Different materials

 Layer Adhesion
 bond strength between the different layers is always lower than the base strength of the
material.
 Materials
 ABS, PLA, PC, PVA, NYLON, TPU
 Benefits
 FDM is the most cost-effective way of producing custom thermoplastic parts and
prototypes.
 The lead times of FDM are short (as fast as next-day-delivery), due to the high availability
of the technology.
 A wide range of thermoplastic materials is available, suitable for both prototyping and
some non-commercial functional applications.
 Limitations
 FDM has the lowest dimensional accuracy and resolution compared to other 3D printing
technologies, so it is not suitable for parts with intricate details.
 FDM parts are likely to have visible layer lines, so post processing is required for a
smooth finish.
 The layer adhesion mechanism makes FDM parts inherently anisotropic
 Concept/Design Visualization
 Direct-use Components
 Investment Casting
 Medical Applications
 Stereolithography (SLA) is an additive manufacturing process that belongs to the
Vat Photopolymerization family. In SLA, an object is created by selectively curing a
polymer resin layer-by-layer using an ultraviolet (UV) laser beam. The materials
used in SLA are photosensitive thermoset polymers that come in a liquid form.

Stereolithography (SLA)
 Printer Parameters
 Layer height (25 and 100 microns, 100 microns common)
 Build size (145 x 145 x 175 mm 3 to 1500 x 750 x 500 mm3)
 Dimensional accuracy (± 0.5% desktop, ± 0.15% industrial)

 Materials
 Standard resin
 Clear resin
 Castable resin
 Tough or Durable resin
 High temperature resin
 Dental resin
 Benefits
 SLA can produce parts with very high dimensional accuracy and with intricate details.
 SLA parts have a very smooth surface finish, making them ideal for visual prototypes.
 Speciality SLA materials are available, such as clear, flexible and castable resins.

 Limitations
 SLA parts are generally brittle and not suitable for functional prototypes.
 The mechanical properties and visual appearance of SLA parts will degrade overtime
when the parts are exposed to sunlight.
 Support structures are always required and post-processing is necessary to remove the
visual marks left on the SLA part
 Fit/form, proof of concept prototypes and engineering verifications
 Investment Casting Patterns
 Rapid Tooling,
 Jigs & Fixtures
 Designer models
 Scale & exhibition models
 Optics, transparent covers
 Molds & casting patterns
 Selective laser sintering is an additive manufacturing (AM) technology that uses a
high power laser to sinter small particles of polymer powder into a solid structure
based on a 3D model.
 Low cost per part, high productivity, and established materials make the
technology ideal for a range of applications.
Working of SLS
 Laser type CO2
 Laser power (W) 25 or 100
 Maximum scan speed (mm/s) 7500 (standard beam delivery system)
 Build volume, inches 26" x 15" x 23",
 Minimum layer thickness (mm) 0.076
 Layering time per layer (s) 10 s
 Materials Polyamide, Thermoplastic elastomer,
Polycarbonate, Nylon, Metals, Ceramics
 Benefits
 Good part stability.
 Wide range of processing materials.
 No part supports required.
 Little post-processing required.
 No post-curing required.
 Advanced software support

 Limitations
 Large physical size of the unit
 High power consumption.
 Poor surface finish.
 Concept models
 Functional models
 working prototypes.
 Polycarbonate patterns.
 Metal tools
 Selective laser melting (SLM), also known as the laser-based powder bed fusion
process (LPBF), is the most widely used AM techniques that can fabricate a wide
variety of materials, including Al-based, Fe-based, Ti-based, Co-based, Cu-based
and Ni-based alloys.
 SLM is considered to be a subcategory of selective laser sintering (SLS).
 The SLM process has the ability to fully melt the metal material into a solid three-
dimensional part unlike SLS
 Layer thickness 20 μm - 50 μm
 Surface roughness: Ra 2.5 - 8 μm / Rz 15 - 50 μm
 Hardness up to 52 HRC (hardening process)
 Components up to 250 mm x 250 mm x 310 mm can be manufactured in one piece
 Tolerances: +/- 0,7 %, min. 0,1 mm
 Benefits
 Dense functional parts made of various metallic materials such as tool steel, stainless steel,
aluminum, copper, and titanium
 High mechanical load capacity
 Good suitability for injection molds
 Conformal cooling / tempering
 Long durability of the material
 Good finishing possibilities (such as heat treatment / hardening)
 Limitations
 Relatively slow process (because of the process speed limitations),
 acute size restrictions,
 high power usage, high initial costs,
 Powder handling can be tricky
 produced parts may have rough surfaces
 Aerospace,
 Automotive,
 Consumer goods
 Medical field.
 Material jetting creates objects in a similar method to a two dimensional ink jet
printer. Material is jetted onto a build platform using either a continuous or Drop
on Demand (DOD) approach.
 Material is jetted onto the build surface or platform, where it solidifies and the
model is built layer by layer. The material layers are then cured or hardened using
ultraviolet (UV) light.
 Layer height 16 - 32 microns.
 Dimensional accuracy ± 0.1%
 Build Size 380 x 250 x 200 mm; 1000 x 800 x 500 mm
 Materials thermoset photopolymer resins
Material Jetting Printing
 Benefits
 Ability to print multi-material and multi-colour parts.
 High accuracy of deposition of droplets
 Low waste
 Homogeneous mechanical and thermal properties.

 Limitations
 Smaller build volume
 Support material is often required
 A high accuracy can be achieved but materials are limited
 Usable for non-functional prototypes
 Mechanical properties degrade over time
 Ideal for visual prototypes and industrial tooling.
 Useful in the production of anatomical medical models for pre-surgical and
education purposes.
 Suitable for casting patterns.
 Laser engineered net shaping (LENS) is another process that is used for the
production of metal/cermet components. In this process, the material powder is
injected into a molten pool on the surface of a solid substrate created by a high-
powered laser beam.
 LENS is known not only as a process for fabricating complex geometries but also
as a surface treatment process.
 This is a type of Direct Energy Deposition (DED) in which a concentrated energy
source is under continuous interaction with a feeding layer of powder or wire.
For LENS 850-R printer
 Maximum build size 900 x 1500 x 900 mm
 Linear Resolution ±0.025 mm
 Deposition Rate up to 0.5 Kg/hr
 Motion Velocity 60mm/hr
 Materials Titanium alloys, Stainless steel, Maraging steels, Tool steels,
Aluminium alloys, Refractory metals (tantalum, tungsten,
niobium), Superalloys (Inconel, Hastelloy), Nickel Copper,
polymers and ceramics
LENS process
 Benefits
 Superior material properties
 Complex parts
 Reduced post-processing requirements
 Fully dense fabricated parts
 Reduced manufacturing time and cost

 Limitations
 Limited materials
 Large physical unit size
 High power consumption
 Build mold and die inserts.
 Producing titanium parts in racing industry.
 Fabricate titanium components for biological implants.
 Produce functionally gradient structures.
 LOM is an AM technique that uses laminated sheets as a precursor material for
layer-by-layer manufacturing.
 It uses sticky paper and a laser cutter to remove excess material around a
selectively outlined layer.
 This technique lends itself well for fabrication of different models and parts without
the need for an expensive, high-energy setup or toxic precursor materials. It is
typically found in architecture, medicine, and mold-making industries, among
others.
 Hybrid process which involves adding and subtracting material to create a part.
 Layers the material with thickness ranges from 0.001 – 0.005 inches.
 Each layer is cut with a CO2 laser.
 Ability to produce larger-scaled models.
 Uses very inexpensive paper
 Fast and accurate
 Good handling strength
 Environmentally friendly
 Not health threatening
 Precision claimed to be ±0.005 in.
 Variety of material can be used such as paper, plastics, composites and ceramics.
 Paper is cheap but is not very stable.
 Need decubing which requires a lot of labour
 Produce smoke or fumes
 Fire hazard
 Not ideal for making complex geometries .
 It is not used to create functional prototypes.
 Investment casting patterns
 Concept verification
 Masters for silicone-rubber injection tools
 Fit-check
 Direct use
 The local melting of the material can be achieved by an electron beam that
replaces the laser. The procedure is then called electron beam melting, EBM.
 Electron beam consolidates the metal powders into a solid mass under a high
vacuum condition.
 Cooling rates: The build plate in EBM is maintained at a much higher temperature
of 650–700°C. After the completion of the print job, the material is allowed to slowly
cool down from 700°C to room temperature inside the chamber. The cooling rate in
SLM is, however, in the range of 104–106 K/s.
Electron Beam melting
 Dimension (mm) 1800 × 900 × 2200 (W × D × H)
 Building volume (mm) 250 × 250 × 200
 Melting speed (m/s) 0.5–1 (material dependent)
 Layer thickness (mm) 0.05–0.5
 Electron beam scan speed Up to 1 km/s
 Materials titanium alloys (ideal for medical implants), cobalt
chrome, steel powders, and nickel alloy 718.
 High beam power — multiple electron beams are used simultaneously in the EBM
process — ultimately means faster printing speeds.
 EBM can produce high-quality metal parts comparable to those produced with
traditional manufacturing methods such as casting.
 Not only do the parts possess strong mechanical properties, they also typically
have a high density (over 99%).
 Preheating the print bed also minimises residual stresses, a common issue faced
with metal 3D printing, reducing the need for support structures.
 EBM offers minimal waste, as most of the unused powder can be recycled for future
use.
 EBM parts typically have a lower level of accuracy when compared to SLM parts,
 Thicker layers can often result in a rough surface finish, and
 EBM parts require extensive additional post-processing to achieve a smoother
surface.
 The choice of materials that can be used in the EBM process is rather limited.
 The cost of materials along with the cost of EBM 3D printers make this technology
an expensive option, suitable only for industrial applications.
 EBM process is used to manufacture H13 tool steel injection and compression
molding tools, functional prototypes and components in small batches.

3D printed implants impeller