Methodical Approach for Process Selection in Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

In recent years, rapid technical progress has led to additive manufacturing achieving a high degree of technological maturity that enables a broad range of applications. This is reinforced in particular by the advantages of the technology, such as the production of complex components, smaller quantities and fast reaction times. However, a lack of knowledge of the various process techniques, such as insufficient potential assessment, specific design guidelines or even of process restrictions, often lead to different errors.This paper presents a methodological approach to support designers in the manufacturing process selection of specific parts at an early stage of product development. In a four-stage procedure, potential part candidates are first identified and part classes formed on the basis of characteristics. Building on this, AM thinking is to be stimulated, for example, with the aid of design guidelines. A comparison between conventionally and additively manufactured parts can be made using a simplified cost model. The results are incorporated into a process model that supports companies in the systematic selection of manufacturing processes.

Additive Manufacturing Research Landscape: A Literature Review

“… AM process selection tools include methods to assist in the selection between conventional processes and AM and within different AM processes, e.g. (Meisel et al, 2016;Wortmann et al, 2019;Dohale et al, 2021). Other categorisations of DfAM approaches refer, e.g.…”

Additive Fertigung für industrielle Anwendungen - Entwicklung einer Auswahlsystematik für Bauteile zur Generierung funktionalen Mehrwerts mittels additiver Fertigung

“…Basierend auf einer Bauteilauswahl kann gemäß der in [4] entwickelten Methodik ein additiver Fertigungsprozess anhand verfahrensspezifischer und anlagenseitiger Limitationen ausgewählt werden. Weitergefasst wird eine Methodik in [5] eingeführt, mit welcher die Bauteilanalyse, das Produktdesign und die Auswahl des additiven Fertigungsprozesses in frühen Produktentwicklungsphasen unterstützt werden kann. Im Hinblick auf pulverbettbasierte Prozesse und das Binder Jetting wird eine Auswahlmethodik in [6] erarbeitet, in…”

Evaluation of a multi-user requirements axiomatic design decision support tool for manufacturing process selection

“…However, a limitation is that product requirements specified in AD-based models are often determined by the designer, who remains the sole user of the model. Other method-driven models may serve the purpose of establishing weighted scoring for each capability criterion to facilitate process ranking (Liu et al, 2020) of different manufacturing processes or performing part classification to tailor towards specific user requirements (Wortmann et al, 2019). Formal knowledge plays a critical role in supporting MPS during the initial stages of design (Lee, 1992) particularly in knowledge-based approaches.…”