How Practical is 3-D Metal Printing?

Abstract

This article explores the application of 3D printing technology in cost-sensitive industries such as consumer products and power systems. Metal printing offers advantages such as the ability to reduce parts count, assembly time, and weight while creating complex internal and external geometries that could not be made any other way to manufacturers in almost every industry. 3D design also makes it possible to customize medical and dental implants for each patient. Industrial product designer Keith Handy used the flexibility of 3D printing to redesign the system. Instead of putting the device above the chain, he built a tunnel-like part that the chain could pass through. Euro-K, a Berlin-based firm that develops small energy converters, created a burner that could do both. 3D printing enabled Euro-K to optimize the burner’s geometry to handle gaseous fuels and difficult-to-burn liquids like fuel oils, a byproduct of alcohol distillation, while reducing size. The article concludes that as new competitors enter the 3D printing arena, systems will grow better, faster, and less expensive. In addition, most important of all, engineers will be standing by with lots of new and surprising ways to take advantage of 3D metal technology