Selected Aspects of 3D Printing for Emergency Replacement of Structural Elements

Abstract

The paper presents a synthetic characterization of modern methods of manufacturing or regenerating machine elements. Considered methods are machining and additive methods, in particular 3D printing in the FDM/FFF technique. For the study, the authors made samples of the holder bracket using selected methods. Samples made by machining operations, 3D printing with various filling were tested. The paper contains a technical and economic analysis of the production of a holder bracket using the discussed methods. The dynamics of steel and FDM/FFF printed samples were also assessed by determining their resonance curves. The vibration magnification fac-tors were analyzed -the quotient of the vibration amplitudes in the resonance to the static deformations that occurred under the influence of the constant force and the location of the vibration resonances -the natural frequencies for individual vibration modes. The study's main objective is to assess the possibility of emergency changing the manufacturing technology of selected machine components. The authors were interested in partially replacing costly and not environmentally friendly milling with 3D printing. Machine elements can be manufactured by printing in classical machine building and emergency conditions to replace a damaged component temporarily (e.g., on a ship, for the time of arrival at a port or shipyard). The main assumption guiding the authors during the preparation of this publication was the analysis of the possibility of using the production of "ad hoc" prepared spare parts and their use in the event of a lack of access to parts made of the intended materials.