AM DfAM Series - Designing for Additive Manufacturing = DfAM + MfAM
Tim Simpson and Chelsea Cummings, The Barnes Global Advisors
What images pop into your mind when we use the term “DfAM”? Perhaps you see beautiful topology optimized structures, organically inspired bird bone constructs, and perfectly latticed shapes? Imagine this all too familiar scenario…
It’s late on a Friday. The production supervisor has allocated the senior technician’s afternoon to set up a Ti-6Al-4V build in the designated multi-laser powder bed fusion machine. A new machine of which only one technician is currently trained on. The build chamber is purged. All you need is Design Engineering to send you the topology optimized part planned for a test build. You have left an open spot in the nesting of the build you have prepared to run over the weekend. At 4:49 PM an email pings your inbox. There is an attachment. It is the light-weighted part… riddled with overhangs and disproportionate feature transitions. You know full well this will blow up your perfectly engineered build that is set to run smoothly over the weekend…
All AM processes have a distinguishing moment when we go through this manufacturing scenario where we must merge the worlds of the manufacturable and the designable. We refer to this “make it work for the process situation”, whether it be binder jetting, directed energy or another form of AM, as Modifying for AM or more simply, MfAM. Similarly, when the organization is leaning in across the board to design parts that are not only highly optimized but also manufacturable with AM, this is DfAM.
All AM processes have a distinguishing moment when we go through this manufacturing scenario where we must merge the worlds of the manufacturable and the designable. We refer to this “make it work for the process situation”, whether it be binder jetting, directed energy or another form of AM, as Modifying for AM or more simply, MfAM. Similarly, when the organization is leaning in across the board to design parts that are not only highly optimized but also manufacturable with AM, this is DfAM. Combining the two, the entire equation for designing for AM can be defined as:
Eq 1. Designing for AM = MfAM + DfAM
