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Metal AM: myths and misconceptions
Additive Manufacturing: Myths, misconceptions and untruths The past decade has seen tremendous growth in metal Additive Manufacturing. To a certain degree, the field has become a victim of its own success, resulting in a number of myths, misconceptions and untruths. Some of these are even becoming detrimental to the further adoption of AM around the world. Olaf Diegel and Terry Wohlers draw on their combined industry experience to address the ten most common misunderstandings and myths relating to AM and present the reality of the technology at its current stage.
Additive Manufacturing will replace conventional manufacturing A number of articles have suggested that AM is the future, and that someday, almost everything will be made by it. This is unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future. The cost of producing AM parts will decline in the coming years, but it will nevertheless remain a more expensive option for the production of high quantities of components. This will especially be the case for low-value products. The layer-by-layer nature of AM makes it relatively slow, which contributes greatly to the cost. Those intimately familiar with AM see it as complementary to conventional manufacturing. Certain jobs can be achieved with AM which would not be possible with conventional manufacturing. These include complex shapes and geometric features, often using less material, resulting in lighter-weight parts. Also, it is possible to produce some types of custom products affordably, especially ones that would
Vol. 4 No. 3 Š 2018 Inovar Communications Ltd
be inconceivable using conventional methods of manufacturing. Parts that can be easily manufactured on a three-axis CNC machine are usually best produced in this way. Metal AM will contribute substantially to the sale of countless CNC machines and other conventional tools and methods, such as heat
treatment, surface finishing, and inspection, to support the postprocessing of parts. The factory of the future is likely to include an array of manufacturing technologies; the challenge for product development engineers will be to know when to use a particular technology to add the most value to products.
Fig. 1 Metal AM will not replace conventional manufacturing: parts that can be easily manufactured on a CNC machine are usually best produced in this way (Photograph courtesy Glenn McKechnie)
Metal Additive Manufacturing | Autumn/Fall 2018
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