© 2018 TKNIKA, IMH, Gipuzkoa, Spain | Nachwuchsstiftung Maschinenbau gGmbH, Bielefeld, Germany
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 | How to use this learning unit |
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Additive Manufacturing - background |
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 | Additive Manufacturing process flow |
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 | Additive Manufacturing for metals |
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Additive Manufacturing processes |
Benefits and impacts of Additive Manufacturing |
 | Benefits and impacts of Additive Manufaturing |
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 | Consumer goods and electronics sector |
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Challenges and opportunites |
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 | Standardisation, regulation, qualification and certification |
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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication
[communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

- CAD-to-part: AM allows a 3D CAD drawing of a component or shape to be converted directly into a physical part.
- Design for customisation: Additive Manufacturing allows users to generate parts with greater customisation, with no additional manufacturing costs, such as extra tooling costs.
- Design for function: Additive Manufacturing allows the user to design for function rather than for manufacture, for example allowing internal features that would be impossible to produce using conventional manufacturing techniques.
- Design for light-weighting: Novel design and flexible manufacturing enable the production of lightweight structures. For example, parts can be made with hollow or complex lattice structures which retain structural strength but with reduced weight.
- Material utilisation: Additive Manufacturing techniques have the potential to approach near zero waste regarding material utilisation. Also scrap generated during the process has the potential to be recycled and be ready for use again.
- Less pollution: Additive Manufacturing techniques do not directly use toxic chemicals in any measurable amount. This is a direct benefit against traditional machining processes.
- Reduced time-to market: Additive Manufacturing has the ability to consolidate several machining steps into a single manufacturing step which will dramatically reduce the overall manufacturing time.
- Localised manufacturing: Additive Manufacturing enables localised manufacturing which results in job creation, retention and economic growth.
Source: Additive Manufacturing in FP7 and Horizon 2020

Additive Manufacturing has the ability to offer significant benefits for a wide range of applications, positively impacting on the societal, economic and environmental elements of sustainable development. These include:
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