Model for evaluating additive manufacturing feasibility in end-use production

In practical design work, a designer needs to consider the feasibility of a part for a manufacturing using additive manufacturing (AM) instead of conventional manufacturing (CM) technology. Traditionally and by default parts are assumed to be manufactured using CM and using AM as an alternative need to be justified. AM is currently often a more expensive manufacturing method than CM, but its employment can be justified due to number of reasons: improved part features, faster manufacturing time and lower cost. Improved part features means usually reduced mass or complex shape. However, in low volume production lower manufacturing time and lower part cost may rise to the most important characteristics. In this paper, we present a practical feasibility model, which analyses the added value of using AM for manufacturing. The approach is demonstrated in the paper on four specific parts. They represent real industrial design tasks that are ordered from an engineering office company. These parts were manufactured by Selective Laser Meting (SLM) technology and the original design done for conventional manufacturing is also presented and used for comparison purpose.