How to Design for Additive Manufacturing: Experts give their advice!

As you will know, a machining piece is not designed in the same way as a 3D printed piece: each manufacturing process is associated with a design technique. In additive manufacturing, there are very specific design rules and tools that will allow you to create an optimized design, ready for 3D printing. These methods are generally grouped under the term Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) – developed to optimize the functional performance of the part as much as possible, but also its cost, reliability, and other product life-cycle considerations. Several techniques are used today, such as generative design, topology optimization or the creation of lattice structures. How to choose the right design method to optimize the entire design process of a 3D printed part? We asked three additive manufacturing experts for their opinion on the matter!

In order to answer the issues related to DfAM, we asked some questions to Ravi Kunju, SVP, Strategy and Business Development at Altair; Daniel Pyzak, Director, EMEA CATIA Competency Center at Dassault Systèmes; and last but not least Peter Rogers, APAC Product Specialist for Additive Manufacturing at Autodesk.

What dictates which DfAM technique is used?

For some context, DfAM emerged because of the enormous design freedom and unique capabilities provided by AM technologies, as opposed to traditional methods such as CNC machining, where some designs are simply impossible to manufacture. Peter Rogers elaborates on this point: “For additive, the question ‘Can we do that?’ is often answered by a ‘yes’. While it is feasible to do something, it doesn’t mean it should be done that way. Production and manufacturing teams are building out their understanding of the best practices around AM.“