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Additive Manufacturing Technologies 4
Additive Manufacturing Technologies 4
Third Edition
Ian Gibson David Rosen
Department of Design, Production George W. Woodruff School
and Management of Mechanical Engineering
University of Twente Georgia Institute of Technology
Enschede, The Netherlands Atlanta, GA, USA
Brent Stucker Mahyar Khorasani
ANSYS Deakin University
Park City, UT, USA Armstrong Creek, VIC, Australia
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Abstract
Thank you for taking the time to read this textbook on Additive Manufacturing
(AM). We hope you benefit from the time and effort it has taken putting it together
and that you think it was a worthwhile undertaking. It all started as a discussion at a
conference in Portugal when we realized we were putting together books with simi-
lar aims and objectives. Since we are friends as well as colleagues, it seemed sen-
sible we join forces rather than compete; sharing the load and playing to each other’s
strengths undoubtedly means a better all-round effort and result.
We wrote this textbook because we have all been working in the field of AM for
many years. Although none of us like to be called “old,” we do seem to have around
85 years of experience, collectively, and have each established reputations as educa-
tors and researchers in this field. We have each seen the technologies described in
this textbook take shape and develop into serious commercial tools, with hundreds
of thousands of regular users and many millions of parts being made by AM
machines each year. AM is now being incorporated into curricula in many schools,
polytechnics, and universities. More and more students are becoming aware of these
technologies and yet, as we saw it, there was no single text adequate for such cur-
ricula. We believe that the first edition provided such a text, and based upon updated
information, the 2nd and 3rd editions were developed.
Additive Manufacturing includes a range of technologies that are capable of
translating virtual solid model data into physical models in an automated process.
The data are broken down into a series of 2D cross-sections of finite thickness.
These cross-sections are fed into AM machines so that they can be created, com-
bined, and added together in a layer-by-layer sequence to form the physical part.
The geometry of the digital part is therefore reproduced physically in the AM
machine without having to adjust for manufacturing processes, like attention to
tooling, undercuts, draft angles, or other features. We can therefore say that the AM
machine is a What You See Is What You Build (WYSIWYB) process that is particu-
larly valuable the more complex the geometry. This basic principle drives nearly all
AM machines, with variations in each technology in terms of the techniques used
for creating layers and bonding them together. Further variations include speed,
layer thickness, range of materials, accuracy, and, of course, cost. With so many
v
vi Abstract
variables, it is clear to see why this textbook must be so long and detailed. Having
said that, we still feel there is much more we could have written.
The first three chapters of this textbook provide a basic overview of AM pro-
cesses. Without fully describing each technology, we provide an appreciation for
why AM is so important to many branches of industry. We outline the rapid develop-
ment of this technology from humble beginnings, which showed promise but still
required much development, to one that is now maturing and showing a real benefit
to product development organizations. By reading these chapters, we hope you can
learn the basics of how AM works.
The next eight chapters (Chaps. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11) take each group of
technologies in turn and describe them in detail. The fundamentals of each technol-
ogy are dealt with in terms of the basic process, whether it involves photopolymer
curing, inkjet printing, sintering, melting, etc., so that the reader can appreciate
what is needed in order to understand, develop, optimize, and use each technology.
Most technologies discussed in this textbook have been commercialized by at least
one company, and many of these commercial variants are described along with dis-
cussion on how to get the best out of them.
The next two chapters are about hybrid AM (the mix of AM and other manufac-
turing processes in a single machine) and low-cost AM techniques. The low-cost
AM chapter focuses on inexpensive machines, which overlaps some of the material
in earlier chapters. However, we felt that the increasing interest in these low-cost
machines justified the special treatment.
The final nine chapters deal with how to apply AM technology in different set-
tings. We look at the materials available for AM and the post-processing you need
to perform after removing a part from the machine, before it can be used. We pro-
vide selection methods for sorting through the many machine options. Since all AM
machines depend on input from 3D CAD software, we go on to discuss how soft-
ware is used. We follow this with a discussion of novel applications which utilize
AM machine output for end-product use, called Direct Digital Manufacturing.
Many of these products were impossible, infeasible, or uneconomic in the past,
including mass customization, where a product can be produced according to the
tastes of an individual consumer but at a cost-effective price. Next we look at how
AM affects the design process, considering how we might improve designs to take
advantage of unique benefits of AM. This moves us on nicely to the subjects of
applications of AM, including tooling and products in the medical, aerospace, and
automotive sectors. We complete the textbook with a chapter on the business and
societal implications of AM, investigating how AM enables creative businesses and
entrepreneurs to invent new products.
This textbook is primarily aimed at students and educators studying AM, either
as a self-contained course or as a module within a larger course on manufacturing
technology. There is sufficient depth for an undergraduate or graduate-level course,
with many references to point the student further along the path. Each chapter also
has a number of exercise questions designed to test the reader’s knowledge and to
expand their thinking. A companion instructor’s guide is being developed as part of
the 3rd edition. Researchers into AM may also find this text useful in helping them
Abstract vii
understand the state of the art and the opportunities for further research. AM indus-
try practitioners will also find this textbook useful as they guide their companies in
adopting AM.
We made a wide range of changes in moving from the first edition, completed in
2009, to the 2nd edition published in 2015. We added a number of new sections and
chapters, including expanding the chapter on medical applications to include dis-
cussion on automotive and aerospace applications. A new chapter on rapid tooling
was also added in the 2nd edition.
Between the 1st and 2nd editions, the authors helped establish the ASTM F42
and ISO TC261 committees on Additive Manufacturing. These committees devel-
oped standard terminology for AM, and the 2nd edition used this updated terminol-
ogy. In the 2nd edition, we also edited the text to reduce references to company-specific
technologies and instead focused more on technological principles and general
understanding. We split the original chapter on printing processes into two chapters
on material jetting and on binder jetting to reflect the standard terminology and the
evolution of these processes in different directions. We inserted a range of recent
technological innovations, including discussion on the Additive Manufacturing File
format. As a result of these many additions and changes, we believe the 2nd edition
was significantly more comprehensive than the first. The response to this 2nd edi-
tion was positive, as sales increased by almost 40% 2 years after publishing, and by
2019 this book was firmly established as the leading AM textbook worldwide.
To keep up with the extensive growth of AM since 2015, we decided to publish
a 3rd edition. This took nearly 2 years of effort with a new co-author added to the
list. Older examples of vat photopolymerization, material jetting, and binder jetting
machines were replaced by newer technologies and applications. New variants of
existing AM techniques, such as high-speed sintering, multi-material jetting, cold
spray, friction stir AM, and more, were added to relevant chapters. We continue to
update our materials to conform to international standards, including ASTM 52900
terminology. To help our readers understand how new terminology relates to older
company-specific and technology-specific names, we have added information to
Chaps. 5 and 10 cross-referencing nomenclature for AM processes to help address
any confusion.
Approximately 200 figures have been redrawn to improve understanding of the
contents. We have significantly expanded our discussion of post-processing meth-
ods to improve surface quality, dimensional accuracy, and mechanical properties.
We provide a better classification for different AM-related software. New topics like
the influence of AM within Industry 4.0, design for 4D printing, and a discussion of
design of experiments have also been added.
Hybrid AM techniques and materials for AM have expanded dramatically since
the 2nd edition, so we significantly expanded our treatment of these topics, resulting
in two new chapters. Hybrid AM is a combination of additive and conventional
manufacturing into a single process, resulting in significantly improved capabilities.
In the new chapter on materials, we classify the feedstock based on the physical
state of the material when added to the machine, including liquid, powder, and solid
viii Abstract
states. This new chapter should help students, researchers, and professionals select
a suitable machine/material combination for their research and businesses.
We are currently working on online supplementary information for this textbook.
In particular, we hope to publish a solutions manual soon. Please check online for
its availability.
Although we have worked hard to make this textbook as comprehensive as pos-
sible, we recognize that a textbook about such rapidly changing technology will not
remain up-to-date for very long. If you have comments, questions, or suggestions
for improvement, they are welcome. We anticipate updating this textbook in the
future, and we look forward to hearing how you have used these materials and how
we might improve this textbook.
As mentioned earlier, each author is an established expert in AM with many years
of research experience. In addition, in many ways, this textbook is only possible due
to the many students and colleagues with whom we have collaborated over the years.
To introduce you to the authors and some of the others who have made this textbook
possible, we will end this preface with brief author acknowledgments.