Additive Manufacturing – Developments in Training and Education

Although AM technologies have high potential in terms of productivity and competitiveness for companies, their diffusion is still relatively limited among manufacturers and end users. In the context of two European Projects (KTRM and SASAM), this chapter presents an approach of how to transfer knowledge to people working in the manufacturing industry or design. This transfer of knowledge is not only based on technology itself but also on any other relevant issues such as business models or standardization in the field of AM. A survey and road map are presented to show the needs of the AM community in terms of training and standards. Also, the chapter highlights that the new standards and technical reports, from ISO-ASTM, can provide valuable support for knowledge transfer, being the link between training and the implementation of standards a key factor to spread AM technologies. The structure, proposed by ISO TC261 and ASTM F42, for development of future standards, is shown as the most suitable to follow in terms of training as well.

Additive manufacturing technologies (AM) have become a production technology during the last years. Originally, the only field of application for AM was the time-efficient production of prototypes—also known as Rapid Prototyping. During the last 5 years, a significant increase of applications for Direct part production can be observed, especially in Aerospace and Medical industry as well as in General Engineering. For this reason, there is a strong demand for experts in AM today that cannot be met by university graduates because AM has, most of the time, not been represented in their curriculum. In addition, AM industry is highly dynamic which leads to a significant amount of new knowledge and relevant progress every year. So, continuing education and part-time training on Additive Manufacturing for people in employment is crucial for economic sustainable growth and application of AM in industry. This contribution aims to introduce a learning quality focused and didactically sound concept for part-time training in AM.

In this chapter, key elements, current technologies, and research on AM for the two aspects of developing an AM system and applying AM in a collaborative research are presented. The chapter also discusses AM as a stand-alone course and as a process explained in an engineering course. Additionally, it discusses a variety of examples wherein AM has been utilized as service and outreach tool to recruit K-16 students into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs.

Although additive manufacturing technologies have undergone significant development in recent years, significant challenges remain in the understanding of the physics of the processes as well as many other aspects. Therefore, in the education of the next-generation AM workforce, besides the instruction of existing AM knowledge, it is of critical importance that the state-of-the-art research subjects and concepts are also made aware to the students. In various classroom and lab setups at University of Louisville, contemporary AM research subjects are introduced to students via various tools, which include self-guided literature review, project-based research subject investigation, open research discussion sessions, and design competitions. Through literature review-based studies the students not only become aware of various research subjects but also have the opportunity to practice critical analysis with new AM knowledge. Through project-based learning, the students also gain hands-on experiences with AM research, which can be applied to new AM research and development problems in their future career.

This chapter provides a concise and practical introduction to the estimation and modelling of the cost of Additive Manufacturing (AM), which is usually required as a starting point in assessments of commercial viability of the technology. The chapter begins with an overview of cost models in general and specific to AM. This is followed by a step-by-step practical presentation of how such models can be constructed and a discussion of the utility of unit cost functions in breakeven analyses. The chapter also discusses a range of recurring issues in the assessment of the cost performance of AM. These include the capacity utilisation problem, integration with other manufacturing processes, the cost impact of process failure and the requirement to explore the effect of design changes when considering different processes. To provide the reader with some rough, yet readily applicable, information on absolute cost performance, the chapter closes with a presentation of specific cost estimates for a number of AM technology variants and materials.

Recent developments in Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology show that it is beginning to become mainstream. Intellectual property (IP) law, the area of law that aims to protect and promote technological and artistic developments, clearly plays a central role in the promotion and support of the development of this important technological field. At the same time, the specific characteristics of AM, especially the digital element that it naturally embodies (the ‘digitalisation of objects’) poses multiple challenges to the way we traditionally conceive and interpret IP doctrines. This trend highlights the pressing need for different stakeholders (e.g. industry and businesses, legal practitioners and experts and educators, students and researchers) to gain a better understanding of what the social impact of AM will be from the viewpoint of IP law. With a focus on European copyright, trademark and patent law, this chapter sheds light on some of the major challenges, as well as possible solutions, for the IP system stemming from the developments of AM technology.

Companies lack a trained workforce with the ability to justify the utilization of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies in manufacturing activities. The problem is that traditional education in engineering design and manufacturing is heavily constrained by the design rules imposed by conventional manufacturing, which are based on subtractive and formative methods. AM applications have been originally tightened to prototyping applications, generating misconceptions regarding its suitability for companies accustomed to playing by the rules of economies of scale. Thus, the economic aspects of AM implementation in end-production applications are not fully understood. This book chapter presents several interrelated AM technology transfer case studies which were performed in collaboration with Aalto University and companies involved in European and Finnish funded research and innovation initiatives. The objective is to provide a pedagogical and comprehensive approach to the key parameters to consider when a design engineer needs to asses AM for production environments (i.e. cost, time and functionality). The results of this research show that justification of AM technology transfer based on cost will only allow the ‘manufacturing of few’ and production of one-of-a kind component. On the other hand, availability of AM parts, reduction of time-to-market as well as reduced delivery lead times can become fundamental in the service operation of manufacturing companies, thus enabling AM technology transfer. Nevertheless, mass-customization applications and improved product functionality become the key parameters that makes AM truly competitive versus other conventional manufacturing methods. The understanding of these parameters and its interlinks with industrial decision-making will open a window with a huge potential for AM applications in traditional OEMs, especially in manufacturing applications from which complete new products and processes can be innovated.

Europe is on the global race of Additive Manufacturing (AM). Both at political and industrial levels, it possesses great potential to become a world leader in the development and deployment of these technologies. However, despite the existing ecosystem, support and capabilities, the global picture for European competitiveness is being threatened due to aggressive strategies and important investments made by other countries. In view of this, Europe needs to put together the fragmented AM community, combine its resources and expertise, and act in a coordinated manner. In order to do so, the effective implementation of a clear European AM strategy for the short, medium and long-term, with concrete objectives is needed. “FoFAM” and “AM-motion” Horizon2020 projects, running from 2015–2016 and 2016–2018, respectively, came up to contribute to this target and try to find an answer to the following questions: How to better use the available knowledge?, how to keep on going from technology to manufacturing? and how to capture the value and gain competitiveness/leadership? These aims require the development of a common vision that goes beyond technology aspects, identifying competitive advantage, bridging complementary capabilities in a smart way, setting strategic priorities and making use of policies to maximise the knowledge-based and business development potential. For this purpose, an AM capabilities mapping/database covering several sectors along with its value chain and a roadmap have been developed.

The machine tool sector (MT) has entered a new era characterized by the emergence of new technologies such as additive manufacturing (AM). Several reasons account for the rising attention on AM: the opportunity to better customize final products, localize the manufacturing process, minimize waste in production and bring down inventory costs. This trend highlights the need to address possible implications in several aspects of AM, including skills. The analysis conducted by the METALS (MachinE Tool ALliance for Skills) project on skills requirements yielded a clear conclusion. As AM will move closer to series production, the relevance of workforce competent in additive production methods will rise in the MT sector. The skillset will gradually evolve into a hybrid one, where conventional competences in subtractive manufacturing will be coupled with new skills specific to the processes with additive machines. These new competences will be concentrated in stages such as design, data pre-processing and file manipulation, post-processing, testing and maintenance. Moreover, greater soft skills in communication, presentation and rising Industry 4.0 technologies will be part of this evolved skill set. They will become more acute as growing competition will put greater emphasis on marketing. To deliver AM skills, work-based education and strong cooperation between educators and industry provide great opportunities.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a technology that, while removing many of the constraints of traditional manufacturing, imposes some new constraints of its own. Because of this, engineers and designers need to be taught a new set of skills in design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) in order to become competent in designing parts that maximize the benefits offered by AM. Around the world, universities and organizations are beginning to offer courses in DfAM to improve the skills of modern engineers and designers. Staff at Lund University, in Sweden, have begun to offer such DfAM courses to industry that use problem-based learning (PBL) as the pedagogical approach to teaching DfAM in a more effective way. This chapter describes how these courses have been implemented, and how they have benefitted from the PBL teaching approach.

Historically and until present times, a large number of diverse terms and acronyms has been used to describe the different concepts and processes within the field of additive manufacturing (AM) and its applications. These terms and acronyms have most commonly had their origins in the early application of AM processes for rapid prototyping (RP) purposes. This has made the language traditionally used to describe AM technology well adapted and clear for individual processes and applications, but in a wider perspective, rather ambiguous and sometimes even misleading. In the situation for specific RP processes, this has not been a problem, but as this technology is migrating into industrial manufacturing processes the conditions and requirements for communication change significantly. In communication, not least for education and training, it is of critical importance to be able to use a consistent language and to convey a clear and unambiguous picture of the topics discussed. This challenge is being addressed by the ongoing development of a standard vocabulary for AM technology, which is intended to provide the necessary means for an efficient and clear communication of the most relevant terms and concepts, in particular for industrial applications of AM technology. This chapter describes the background for terms and their definitions used within AM, and how a more clear understanding for the technology is enabled by a consistent use of terms and definitions.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) enables designers to consider the benefits of digital manufacturing from the early stages of design. This may include the use of part integration to combine all required functions, utilizing multiple materials, moving assemblies, different local properties such as colour and texture, etc. Cost analysis can also be factored in throughout the entire value chain, from design to the finishing operations in comparison to traditional processes and conventional ways of working. Therefore, the concept of Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) is more than a geometrical issue on a CAD system, and not limited only to topological optimization or lattice integration.

Additive manufacturing is a growing technology and has become part of mankind’s daily life, namely, at a technological, economic and social level. It i s a main topic of university lectures worldwide and it is applied by every industrial sector; in particular, it has been promoted in the medical field where its impact has increased and more and more systems are being acquired and developed for healthcare applications. Due to its capability to produce complex geometric parts directly from medical imaging data using biocompatible materials, additive manufacturing is a key technology for the fabrication of external (e.g. exoskeletons, or orthoses) and internal (permanent or temporary tissue implants) medical devices. This chapter introduces the main additive manufacturing techniques being used in the medical field, discusses main process steps and also presents several case studies including the development of a hand-wrist-forearm and finger orthosis, mandibular reconstruction, cranial prostheses, personalized insoles and bone composite scaffolds for tissue engineering.

As Europe seeks to retain its leading position for industrial competitiveness, there is an urgent need to establish Additive Manufacturing (AM) skills at European, National and Regional levels. AM processes enable economic component production through efficient use of materials and increased design freedom as compared to conventional manufacturing. AM also raises the level of digital literacy among workers and contributes to the digitization of the European Industry. EU initiatives such as ADMIRE and CLLAIM aim to create and support an industry-led European Qualification System for Metal Additive Manufacturing that will tackle skills and qualification needs from an operator to engineer level.

This chapter presents an overview of Functionally Graded Additive Manufacturing (FGAM) that is a layer-by-layer fabrication technique which involves gradationally varying the material organisation within a component to meet an intended function. The use of FGAM offers designers and engineers a huge potential to produce variable-property structures by strategically controlling the density of substances and blending materials that could lead to an entirely new class of novel applications. However, we are currently constrained by the lack of comprehensive ‘materials-product-manufacturing’ knowledge, guidelines and standards for best practices. We are on the cusp of a paradigm shift and suitable methodologies need to be established to fully exploit and enable the true potential of FGAM on a commercial and economic scale. As FGAM technology matures, a multidisciplinary approach is needed to train the next generation of Additive Manufacturing experts.