A Study of Design Fixation Related to Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

This study aims to understand the effect of additive manufacturing (AM) on design fixation. Whereas previous research illustrates the positive aspects of AM, the overarching hypothesis of this work is that it might also have negative effects with respect to conventional manufacturability. In this work, participants from two groups, a design for conventional manufacturing (DfCM) group, and a design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) group, were asked to design a basic product. Then, a second iteration of the design asked both groups to design for conventional processes, and to include subtractive and formative methods like machining and casting, respectively. Findings showed that the DfAM fixated on nonproducible manufacturing features and produced harder to conventionally manufacture designs, even when told specifically to DfCM. There was also evidence that the complex designs of the DfAM group limited their modeling success and seemed to encourage them to violate more design constraints. This study draws attention to the negative effect of AM knowledge on designers and provides motivation for treatment methods. This is important if AM is used in prototyping or short run production of parts that are slated for conventional manufacturing later. The issue of design fixation is not a problem if AM is the final manufacturing method—a more common practice nowadays. This work suggests that one should consider the possibility of fixation in design environments where AM precedes larger volume conventional manufacturing.

Exploring creativity management of design for additive manufacturing

“…It is suggested that AM can support designers to express themselves creatively and hence find innovative solutions in their designs (Krugelis, 2018;Wai, 2001). Nevertheless, it has also been proposed that researchers and designers should be cautious when discussing creative potentials of AM, since it does not always correlate with high-quality design (Abdelall et al, 2018b). To reach such a level of product quality and to create designs that were unthinkable in the past, it is proposed that designers should take inspiration from elsewhere (Campbell et al, 2012).…”

“…Such printed models include details for designers to assess design features and bring opportunities for assessing the design from the perspectives of details, internal spaces and form (ibid.). While addressing DfAM and handling the high pressure of being creative, there is also a risk of influencing designs in a negative way through, for example, design fixation (Abdelall et al, 2018b). It has been shown that novice designers in particular can create design fixation, when first designing for AM and then redesigning for traditional manufacturing methods (ibid.).…”

Understanding the Role of Additive Manufacturing Knowledge in Stimulating Design Innovation for Novice Designers

“…Experimental design studies were widely used to examine the effectiveness of AMK in various forms [7,[18][19][20]. The work of Maidin et al [7] in developing an AM feature database indicated the value of providing primarily opportunistic AMK in the early design stages.…”

The implication of rapid technologies on the design process

“…However, the fixation on non-producible features, their causes, Fig.1 (a and treatment methods were not discussed in the literature. A recent study by the authors found that designers who design for additive manufacturing fixated on non-producible features when asked to modify their design for ease of manufacturing using conventional processes (Abdelall, Frank, and Stone, 2018). An example where a designer was fixated on and created more nonproducible features is shown in Figure 1.…”

“…In some cases, AM as a design support tool helps the designer to test the fit, form and sometimes function of their designs, while ignoring design complexity problems . However, a recent study by the authors (Abdelall, Frank, and Stone, 2018) showed that designing new parts for AM may in fact impair design for manufacturability (DFM) skills of the designer. The effect of AM on impairing DFM skills materializes if demand for a new product increases to a degree that requires mass production with conventional manufacturing, which necessitates redesign for ease of manufacturing.…”