The Perks of Additive Manufacturing

One of the main pillars of the AMBIANCE project involves the use and integration of different advanced technologies towards optimisation of materials and manufacturing processes. Additive Manufacturing (AM) allows the semi-automatic manufacture of complex geometries directly from three-dimensional CAD models. In this project, AIMEN will use LFAM (Large Format Additive Manufacturing) technology, which takes all the advantages of desktop 3D printers to a larger scale, to produce highly customized construction and furniture parts quickly and more efficiently. 

The table below describes and compares the main features of additive manufacturing and conventional manufacturing methods:

	Additive Manufacturing	Conventional Manufacturing Methods
Cost	Products can be manufactured at comparatively low cost (small and medium batches).	Expensive for small production batches: mould manufacturing, dyes, and tooling processes.
Time	Short time (products are made directly from the CAD model). Time is saved by cutting down on the production development step, supply chain and dependence on inventory.	Manufacturing times are very long as it depends on the availability of the moulds or inventory.
Design	Allows the manufacture complex geometries and customized products. The products are only limited by the design.	Complex geometries cannot be manufactured.
Material Wastage	There is little to no wastage of the raw material.	Involves a lot of material wastage
Quality	The quality depends on the material and technology used. Manufactured parts not usually used to in load bearing applications.	Due to their excellent quality, the products have always been used for load carrying applications.

---

The challenge of the project is to easily 3D print large-scale functional products using bio-based polymers with improved properties that will make them suitable for outdoor use.

---

Written by: AIMEN