DfAM
The acronym DfAM – Design for Additive Manufacturing – has emerged in recent months to define all those practices and skills that enable a designer or an engineer to create objects which optimally leverage the geometric potential of additive manufacturing technologies.
These skills and practices include many software tools – often included in CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) programs as well as capabilities that are derived from personal experience. Next generation CAD and CAE software may provide support through a wide range of approaches. These include processes such as topology optimization – that is the ability to add material where it is needed and remove it where it is unnecessary – or the parametric generation of lattice and trabecular structures. There are highly intricate networks of structures that can confer a specific component the same or better mechanical properties than solid parts, using less material and thus reducing manufacturing costs. Furthermore, these types of structures can be produced only through layered additive manufacturing processes.
While these approaches are becoming adopted in advanced engineering, there were still largely unknown until just a few years ago, when only a handful of forward-looking creatives, artists and product designers began to experiment with them in combination with AM technologies. Today DfAM has grown to encompass concepts such as mass customization – the ability to serially manufacture custom products – as well as wearable technology and even personalized food manufacturing. These designers continue to show us the way products will be digitally and additively made in the future. Check out 3dpbm’s exclusive celebrity survey with some of the world’s greatest DfAM designers.
-
Heath Townsend, Evol Components wins Make it Real challenge
Wevolver, in partnership with advanced materials company polySpectra, announced Heath Townsend as the winner of the Make it Real 3D Printing Challenge. Townsend, founder of Evol Components, will receive $25,000 worth of additive manufacturing services to realize his company’s idea for a motorbike bracket as a physical product. The bracket is…
Read More -
AM heralding new chapter for fluid flow applications
Making the most of additive manufacturing (AM) is not only about installing the technology. As with anything, the deeper the knowledge of the process, the more one can get out of it and the more applications can be developed. AM experts and application engineers are thus in a unique position,…
Read More -
Impact F1, what next-gen, parametric, 3D printed flip flops look like
The ability to leverage parametric online customization tools to create and personalize entire products is embedded in the potential of 3D printing as a production technology. Until now this potential has been only marginally exploited but the possibilities are rapidly increasing: more optimized products, more customized, more innovative, more sustainable:…
Read More -
SHINING 3D serially 3D prints DfAM metal bottle openers using Voxeldance Additive
Feng Tao, the vice general manager of SHINING 3D, first discovered the potential of VoxelDance Additive, a CAD-CAM software developed by VoxelDance, a young Chinese development firm specializing in AM-specific software. After an evaluation, SHINING 3D applied it to its EPlus3D EP-M150 and EP-M250 Pro printers. Since 2019, SHINING 3D…
Read More -
Stratasys and nTopology collaborate to simplify 3D-printed jigs and fixtures for manufacturing with DfAM
Stratasys and nTopology are collaborating to provide a series of accessible, customizable Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) workflows for their users. Stratasys manufactures FDM, PolyJet and stereolithography additive manufacturing systems. nTopology is an engineering software company that specializes in AM applications. The first release in the companies’ DfAM partnership is…
Read More -
Dyndrite adds AddUp, EnvisionTEC and Link3D to Dyndrite Developer Council
Dyndrite, providers of the core accelerated geometry engine used to create next-generation digital manufacturing hardware and software, added three new vendors to the Dyndrite Developer Council. The new members, AddUp, EnvisionTEC, and Link3D, are as varied as can be. EnvisionTEC is one of the core pillar companies of the AM…
Read More -
nTopology signs Harvestance as partner reseller in South Korea
After finalizing operations in Japan, DfAM design software specialist nTopology has now signed a new reseller partnership with engineering solutions provider Harvestance for the market in South Korea. Harvestance is one of the leading DfAM experts in the region with years of experience across various roles in the industry. nTopology’s…
Read More -
ETH Zurich demonstrates automated DfAM framework with custom nozzles
There is no question about additive manufacturing’s ability to produce complex, highly integrated geometries: in fact, this capability is one of the technology’s main advantages. Despite this, one of the hurdles to the broad implementation of AM has been actually creating these complex designs in the first place. That is,…
Read More -
nTopology signs distribution agreement with NTT DATA XAM Technologies in Japan
After signing an MoU with Yamaichi Special Steel just last month, to bring it’s nTop software to Japan’s automotive industry, NYC-based software firm nTopology has now established a distribution partnership with NTT DATA XAM Technologies, the recently established AM division of Japanese system integration giant NTT DATA Corporation (a partly…
Read More -
DfAM takes aerospace to new heights
This interview was originally published in the 3dpbm AM Focus eBook on Aerospace. When you talk about additive manufacturing in the aerospace industry, it is impossible not to discuss design. Design is one of – if not – the most important driving factors behind AM’s benefits in the development of aerospace…
Read More