ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING

workshop: DECEMBER 2, 2003 National Science Foundation

The nation's leading organization conducting international technology studies

Learn about the current directions on Additive/Subtractive Manufacturing from a panel of experts who are completing a study of European research and development in the subject. The workshop will be at the National Science Foundation, Room 555 in the Stafford II building on December 2, 2003.

WTEC’s panel is chaired by Prof. Joseph J. Beaman, Jr.,  Department Chair, Mechanical Engineering Department., University of Texas at Austin, and includes experts (listed inside) with broad strengths and experience in additive manufacturing.  

Purpose and Scope

The goal of this study is to gather information on the worldwide status and trends in additive/subtractive manufacturing S&T, and disseminate it to government decision makers and the research community. The study panelists will gather information on S&T research at home and abroad useful to the U.S. government for planning its research investments, and will critically analyze and compare the research in the United States with that being pursued in abroad. This information will serve the following purposes:

• Identify good ideas overseas worth exploring in U.S. S&T programs
• Clarify research opportunities and needs for advancing progress in the field generally
• Identify opportunities for international collaboration
• Evaluate the relative position of foreign research programs relative to those in the U.S.

The solid freeform fabrication (SFF) community has learned that 2-D design decomposition allows layered deposition of structures with increasing geometric complexity. However, restriction to layered SFF techniques may be constraining regarding part quality and material variety. Clearly, additive material processes are broader than just layered processes, but even they do not include material subtraction, assembly, and insertion of components made by other processes. Therefore this study will focus on the broader topic of integrative approaches to "material synthesis."

Subtopics likely to be covered in this WTEC study include the following:

• Integrated manufacturing approaches utilizing MEMS, SFF and a variety of other processes to realize products in the mesoscale regime. Additive technologies to be assessed may include (but are not necessarily limited to) the following:
  • biological approaches to material deposition
  • thin film deposition
  • polymer deposition
  • metals
• Applications for the above manufacturing approaches in medical devices and tissue-related products
• Technical and management approaches to custom manufacturing
• Focus on synthesis of products rather than synthesis of models
• Focus on basic manufacturing issues that may be common to multiple applications
• Opportunities for optimizing materials and energy use in manufacturing from additive/subtractive manufacturing processes

The study may also address the following non-technical issues:

• Mechanisms for enhancing international and interdisciplinary cooperation in the field
• Opportunities for shortening the lead time for deployment of new manufacturing technologies emerging from the laboratory
• Long-range research, educational, and infrastructure issues that need addressed to promote better progress in the field
• Current government S&T funding levels overseas compared to the United States, to the extent data are available

The above list of topics will be refined by panel members in consultation with the sponsors at the U.S. workshop in February.

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Sites to be Visted

Germany

• Envisiontec
• Univ. of Freiburg
• Fraunhofer Institute for  Production Technology (IPT)
• Fraunhofer Institute of Laser Technology (ILT)
• Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing and Advanced Materials (IFAM)
• Bremen Institute of Industrial Technology and Applied Work Science (BIBA)

United Kingdom

• University of Loughborough
• University of Manchester
• UMIST
• University of Nottingham
• University of Leeds
• University of Liverpool
  

List of Topics:

• Integrated manufacturing
• Technical and management approaches to custom manufacturing
• Focus on synthesis of products rather than synthesis of models
• Focus on basic manufacturing issues that may be common to multiple applications
• Opportunities for optimizing materials and energy use in manufacturing from additive/subtractive manufacturing

Workshop Panelists:

Prof. Joseph J. Beaman, Jr., Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, Panel Chair
 

Prof. Theodore L. Bergman, Ph.D., University of Connecticut
 

Prof. David Bourell, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin
 

Scott Hollister, Ph.D., University of Michigan
 

Prof. David Rosen, Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology
 

Clint Atwood, Sandia National Laboratories

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