A complete guide to 3D printing with metals

Charlottesville, Virginia – Metal additive manufacturing (AM) is revolutionizing the manufacture of many products in medical, dental, aerospace, and jewelry to name a few. During the next decade, the implementation of metal AM will complete the transition from a purely R&D activity to a full distributed manufacturing process.

A new report, “The Production Manager's Complete Guide to 3D Printing with Metals,” is an accessible entry point for production managers into the world of metal AM and is focused specifically on the requirements and practical aspects of implementing metals printing including providing direction on equipment choice, process integration and materials selection.

Written for manufacturing and operations managers who are called to develop and deploy a precise strategy for AM implementation in their company's process workflow, this guide provides an immediately accessible resource for information on 3D metals printing.

By providing a complete overview of the current state of play in metals AM, this guide also seeks to simplify the decision process and obtain the best production results, limiting trial and error implementation of metals AM to a minimum.

Questions on metal AM answered:

• This guide answers important questions such as:
• Which are the technologies that you should implement?
• Which materials should you use to obtain optimal price/speed/quality ratios?
• Should you use metal 3D printing just for functional prototyping or for short-run production?
• What are the characteristics that make a particular product fit to be 3D printed in metal?
• Which prototypes, tools and parts can already be 3D printed?

The reader of this guide will discover what each metal AM technology can offer in terms of size, speed, costs, production capabilities and automation. It analyzes each of the most commonly used materials to expose advantages and challenges in their utilization. Finally, it explores both the dominant current and near future applications in which metal AM can offer unrivaled manufacturing advantages.

First of a series
This is the first of a series that SmarTech Publishing will be bringing to market on a regular basis. These guides will cover a host of vital topics in AM that all production managers must come to understand, if they are to better able to utilize and deploy this revolutionary advanced manufacturing technology.

The guides take the strategic insider perspective that SmarTech Publishing has achieved and directs them to the needs of the production manager. Each of the reports in the series covers a different aspect of 3D printing/additive manufacturing.

The next two reports in the series will cover (1) prototyping using today's low-cost 3D printers and (2) how to select between the many kinds of additive manufacturing technologies that are currently available.

Guides for success
Over the next decade, the implementation of additive manufacturing will be in the vanguard of the transition from traditional manufacturing to advanced manufacturing based on digital technology.

Understanding the advantages and challenges that AM will present, and how to optimize the deployment of 3DP will become vital to any production manager who wants to take full advantage of the digital manufacturing revolution. SmarTech Publishing's new series of guides will provide such mangers with accessible entry points into the world of additive manufacturing.

SmarTech Publishing's other monographs in this series will appear at regular intervals and each will cover a different topic, each of vital importance to production managers who are contemplating using 3D printing in some area of their firm.

About SmarTech
SmarTech Publishing has published reports on most of the important revenue opportunities in the 3D printing sector including personal printers, low-volume manufacturing, 3D printing materials, medical/dental applications, aerospace and other promising 3D market segments. Our client roster includes some of the largest 3D printer firms, materials firms and investors in the world.

Source: SmarTech