Alternative Manufacturing: Additive Metals: Identifying Applications for 3D Printings Most Coveted Material

Chicago, Illinois - With additive metals use expected to nearly double over the next 3 years, it’s critical for additive manufacturing (3D printing) professionals to know how to identify proper applications of and design for additive metals processes. This session will illustrate the major impact utilizing 3D printing to produce complex structures, multi-part assemblies and design verification for castings can have on a project’s budget and timeline. For example, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) recently used additive metal to simplify its most complex rocket engine part ever, transforming a part with 163 individual components into a two-piece unit. The injectors were completed in 10 days, which was 15 times faster than traditional manufacturing.

Attendees will also learn how to design files for additive metals to fully leverage the technology’s benefits. It’s not as simple as taking any design file and plugging it into a DMLS machine. Variables like wall thickness, horizontal surfaces and holes differ between processes, so users must design for the process versus trying to force traditionally manufactured parts into additive metals methods. Through this session, attendees will gain a better understanding of how these factors affect designing for additive metals.

About the author
Eric Mutchler is the Laser Sintering Product Manager at Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, one of the world’s largest 3D printing and customer manufacturing service providers. Eric has been in the additive manufacturing industry for over 5 years, working in various areas from project coordination to applications engineering, where he became an expert in designing for metal and plastic additive processes. In his current role, Eric leads the launch and implementation of new materials, applications, and solutions for Laser Sintering and Direct Metal Laser Sintering services. 

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