A Brief Introduction to 3D Printing

3D printing, or additive manufacturing, has come a long way, evolving from a method only useful for creating functional and aesthetic prototypes to something that is being used more and more for industrial production. It has advantages over more traditional methods of construction in that complex shapes and geometries such as hollow parts or parts with internal truss structures to reduce weight while creating less waste are possible. Additive manufacturing also allows for the creation of parts with high precision and accuracy that might not otherwise be achievable with traditional methods. Additionally, waste is minimized as material is added only where needed.

There are quite a few different additive processes. What sets one apart from another is how layers are deposited when parts are created, and what material is used. Some of these different processes include material jetting, material extrusion, light polymerized, and powder bed.

The most common 3D printing process is fused deposition modeling (FDM), a material extrusion additive process, which uses a continuous filament of a thermoplastic material to build parts layer by layer. While mostly used for plastic, printing materials have expanded to metals, ceramics, and even chocolate. Some printers are even capable of printing with multiple materials, allowing for different properties in areas of interest and color variation without needing to separately print and assemble different components.

In the aviation industry, additive manufacturing has joined other manufacturing processes such as casting, fabrication, stamping, and machining to help reduce cost, reduce the number of nonconforming parts, and reduce weight in engines to increase fuel efficiency. While not a large part in the overall manufacturing process, additive manufacturing allows OEMs to create parts that are optimized for performance and cost.

Hill Engineering utilizes 3D printers to not only support the efforts of our Product Development Group but to help our engineers in the measurement laboratory. Custom fixtures to stabilize complex parts during residual stress measurements, parts to help make our processes more efficient, or objects to help keep us organized, the use cases for 3D printers are virtually endless.