Session L19: Invited Session: Industry Day: Introduction to Additive Manufacturing

3D Printing, Additive Manufacturing, and Solid Freeform Fabrication: The Technologies of the Past, Present and Future

Starting in the late 1980's, several new technologies were created that have the potential to revolutionize manufacturing. These technologies are, for the most part, additive processes that build up parts layer by layer. In addition, the processes that are being touted for hard-core manufacturing are primarily laser or e-beam based processes. This presentation gives a brief history of Additive Manufacturing and gives an assessment for these technologies. These technologies initially grew out of a commercial need for rapid prototyping. This market has a different requirement for process and quality control than traditional manufacturing. The relatively poor process control of the existing commercial Additive Manufacturing equipment is a vestige of this history. This presentation discusses this history and improvements in quality over time. The emphasis will be on Additive Manufacturing processes that are being considered for direct manufacturing, which is a different market than the 3D Printing ``Makerbot'' market. Topics discussed include past and present machine sensors, materials, and operational methods that were used in the past and those that are used today to create manufactured parts. Finally, a discussion of new methods and future directions of AM is presented.   

Additive Manufacturing Enabled Ubiquitous Sensing in Aerospace and Integrated Building Systems

Ubiquitous sensing is rapidly emerging as a means for globally optimizing systems of systems by providing both real time PHM (prognostics, diagnostics, and health monitoring), as well as expanded in-the-loop control. In closed or proprietary systems, such as in aerospace vehicles and life safety or security building systems; wireless signals and power must be supplied to a sensor network via single or multiple data concentrators in an architecture that ensures reliable/secure interconnectivity. In addition, such networks must be robust to environmental factors, including: corrosion, EMI/RFI, and thermal/mechanical variations. In this talk, we describe the use of additive manufacturing processes guided by physics based models for seamlessly embedding a sensor suite into aerospace and building system components; while maintaining their structural integrity and providing wireless power, sensor interrogation, and real-time diagnostics. We detail this approach as it specifically applies to industrial gas turbines for stationary land power.   

Manufacturing of Wearable Sensors for Human Health and Performance Monitoring

Continuous monitoring of physiological and biological parameters is expected to improve performance and medical outcomes by assessing overall health status and alerting for life-saving interventions. Continuous monitoring of these parameters requires wearable devices with an appropriate form factor (lightweight, comfortable, low energy consuming and even single-use) to avoid disrupting daily activities thus ensuring operation relevance and user acceptance. Many previous efforts to implement remote and wearable sensors have suffered from high cost and poor performance, as well as low clinical and end-use acceptance. New manufacturing and system level design approaches are needed to make the performance and clinical benefits of these sensors possible while satisfying challenging economic, regulatory, clinical, and user-acceptance criteria. In this talk we will review several recent design and manufacturing efforts aimed at designing and building prototype wearable sensors. We will discuss unique opportunities and challenges provided by additive manufacturing, including 3D printing, to drive innovation through new designs, faster prototyping and manufacturing, distributed networks, and new ecosystems. We will also show alternative hybrid self-assembly based integration techniques for low cost large scale manufacturing of single use wearable devices.