Additive Manufacturing: Understanding and Applying Key Design Considerations

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is one of the most predominantly used additive manufacturing (AM) technologies today, producing functional metallic parts in several industries such as aerospace, medical, and automotive. As an emerging and complex technology, the manufacturing design guidelines and rules of LPBF along with its impact on sustainability are not well understood. This session builds off design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) principles as they apply to specific process parameters and machine dynamics defined in LPBF. These include recoater blade interference, support structure, and part distortion. This session also provides insight into the impact of AM on sustainability, as well as highlighting key design considerations to improving the implications on sustainability. With these considerations in mind, the session will explore how a user can implement design variables into their workflow using Autodesk Netfabb and its Simulation Utility.