Evaluation of the Economic Efficiency of the Technology for Manufacturing Composite Metal-Metal-Polymer Parts in Comparison With Additive and Subtractive Technologies

Abstract

The development of additive manufacturing leads to the emergence of new 3D printing technologies, new materials for 3D printing and a gradual reduction in the cost of production. Nowadays, the cost of equipment used for metal and metal powders 3D printing are still very expensive. This factor makes the production technologies unavailable for the civil engineering industry in the manufacture of functional parts. The cost of additive manufacturing of metal parts is mainly dependent on the volume of printing. Reducing the print volume can lead to a significant reduction in the cost of manufacturing the part. Fabrication of a metal shell, the cavity of which is filled with a cheap metal polymer, can be an excellent alternative to an all-metal part. Such a metal-metal-polymer composite part can have sufficient strength and significantly lower cost. However, there are no dependencies today to understand the economic efficiency of using a particular production technology. The article provides a method for calculating the cost of manufacturing a lever part using various technologies: subtractive, additive and composite part manufacturing technology. According to the calculated data, the dependence of the cost of manufacturing a part on piece time is built. It can be interpreted as the amount of machining. The constructed linear dependence can give an idea of the effectiveness of the application of a particular technology for obtaining a part. In addition, non-economic factors affecting the possibility of using various technological processes for manufacturing a part are described. Together, the presented data allow the technologist to comprehensively assess the possibility of effective application of a particular production technology and make an appropriate informed decision.