Idea Hub
Lightweighting With Additive Manufacturing
Flexibility, cost, and weight savings are key elements for most manufacturers. Lightweighting comprises all the methods and practices to make industrial parts and products (like vehicles) weigh less while retaining – or even enhancing – their technical and mechanical functionality. From saving on materials to substituting lighter weight materials to eliminating parts through smarter design (ask us about the drill shoe!), additive...
Industrial Scale 3D Printing
The BMW Group has benefited from the advantages of AM. It offers fast availability of components, flexible component design, and the ability to manufacture parts without elaborate tools. “Processes such as additive manufacturing help us to speed up development cycles and get our vehicles to series maturity faster. 3D printing also shortens the production times of components while meeting rigorous quality requirements,” said Daniel Schäfer,...
A framework for mapping design for additive manufacturing
Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) is a growing field. Over the past few years, the scientific community has begun to explore this topic to provide a basis for supporting professional design practice. However, current knowledge is still largely fragmented, difficult to access and inconsistent in language and presentation. This paper seeks to collate and organize this dispersed but growing body of knowledge, using a single and coherent...