Designers employ the additive manufacturing process and 3D printers for rapid prototyping — to turn ideas into objects as soon as possible. They don’t use them for much else, though, particularly in terms of production. Why is that?

To answer that question, one only needs to look at the current limitations of additive manufacturing technology. These solutions are excellent at producing small batches of highly specialized parts, but they are not as effective at producing consistently high-quality parts at scale. In other words, these technologies might be a natural fit for prototyping, but they are not quite ready to replace conventional machines on the factory floor.

Manufacturers need to overcome technical challenges related to materials and processing before additive manufacturing realizes its transformative potential. Above all, 3D printing needs to up its efficiency. That’s true for the printing process itself and for post-printing processes, the latter of which can account for up to 60% of total production times.

Fortunately, solutions are on the horizon. Additive manufacturing technology is improving rapidly, confronting past challenges, and pioneering future capabilities. And it won’t be long before these enhancements increase the number of potential business opportunities in additive manufacturing.

Three technology innovations, in particular, will help optimize the additive manufacturing process:

1. Larger Build Chambers: The current slew of 3D printers come with relatively small build chambers. This reduced capacity restricts each printer’s production bandwidth and forces technicians to add and remove materials regularly.

With the advent of larger build chambers, manufacturers can produce more — or larger — parts during each printing cycle. In addition to improving output, these chambers also make the additive manufacturing process safer by requiring less hands-on input from technicians.

2. Improved Energy Sources: The “printing” process happens by directing an energy source (an electron or laser beam) toward a material like metal powder. Additive manufacturing technologies allow for improved energy sources that enable engineers to exert better control over the melting down of the powder.

With more focused energy sources available, manufacturers can extend how many products they can reasonably print. These sources can also reduce the need for post-build machine processing, making it cheaper and faster to print parts.

3. Expanded Thermal Capabilities: Advanced build chambers can tolerate much higher temperatures. That’s critical because printed parts currently must be removed from the build chamber to receive heat treatment, which slows the end-to-end process.

With an increase in thermal capabilities, a time-consuming step is removed from the additive manufacturing process. Once it’s possible to get closer to a finished product inside the build chamber, additive manufacturing’s financial benefits evolve in exciting ways.

 

It’s important to note that additive manufacturing is still in its infancy. Manufacturers have yet to unlock (or even imagine) its full potential, but additive manufacturing technologies are expediting that maturation. If you want to be ahead of the pack, learn how to leverage today’s 3D printers in smarter ways with the help of VEXTEC and our VPS-MICRO® predictive performance software.