Additive Manufacturing (AM) : Emerging Technologies, Applications & Economic Implications

The introduction of additive manufacturing or 3D printing has brought about a whole new dimension of possibilities in manufacturing technology. This book includes research on powder-bed electron beam additive manufacturing (EBAM) which has the potential to offer innovative solutions to many challenges facing the manufacturing industry. The feasibility of the use of a 3D printer to recreate patient-specific anatomical modelling (in this case, of the pelvic rim) are also examined. A discussion on why the use of this technology to customise implants, plates and the operative procedure to a patient''s unique anatomy leads to improved outcomes is led by the authors. The third chapter deals with selective laser melting (SML) and presents a review regarding the state-of-the-art mechanical performance of the SML manufactured titanium and aluminium alloys (due to wide demand of light-weight parts in the aerospace and automotive industries). The authors of the fourth chapter discuss the feasibility of mobile additive manufacturing systems powered by photovoltaic modules for different applications. The book concludes with a review on functionally graded materials (FGM), which can be produced by laser metal deposition, which belongs to the class of additive manufacturing. LMD is capable of producing three dimensional (3D) parts directly from the 3D image by adding materials layer by layer. In this chapter, laser metal deposition of titanium alloy composite are described and also characterised.