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Abstract
The Trajectory of Metal Additive Manufacturing
| Manufacturing of metal components is essential to every major industry, and involves complex supply chains, consumes significant natural resources, and sometimes still uses ancient techniques. Conversely, additive manufacturing (AM) promises to, ultimately, digitize the formation of objects and redistribute value across the product life cycle. I will provide an overview of AM techniques for metals, and I will highlight recent work from my research group at MIT, including: discrete element simulation of powder spreading coupled with X-ray microscopy for layer quality control; a new concept for drop-on-demand metal printing; and physics-based cost and manufacturability modeling for deployment of AM at scale. These efforts emphasize expertise in materials, computation, and automation, which are collectively critical to enabling the next generation of metal AM. Yet, working with industry, we have learned that adoption of AM is held back by limited knowledge of its fundamental principles, and the challenge of building agile, innovative organizations. Motivated by this, I will share recent experiences from our AM-focused education programs. |
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