Temporal design for additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) is expected to generate huge economic revenue by 2025; however, this will only be realised by overcoming the barriers that are preventing its increased adoption to end-use parts. Design for AM (DfAM) is recognised as a multi-faceted problem, exasperated by constraints to creativity, knowledge propagation, insufficiencies in education and a fragmented software pipeline. This study proposes a novel approach to increase the creativity in DfAM. Through comparison between DfAM and in utero human development, the unutilised potential of design through the time domain was identified. Therefore, the aim of the research is to develop a computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) programme to demonstrate design through the time domain, known as Temporal DfAM (TDfAM). This was achieved through a bespoke MATLAB code which applies a linear function to a process parameter, discretised across the additive build. TDfAM was demonstrated through the variation of extrusion speed combined with the infill angle, through the axial and in-plane directions. It is widely accepted in the literature that AM processing parameters change the properties of AM materials. Thus, the application of the TDfAM approach offers the engineer increased creative scope and control, whilst inherently upskilling knowledge, in the design of AM materials.