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Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as “3D printing,” is often touted as a sustainable technology, especially for metal components, since it produces either net or near-net shapes versus traditionally machined pieces from larger mill products. While traditional machining from mill products is often the case in aerospace, most of the metal parts used in the world are made from flat-rolled metal and are quite efficient in utilization. Additionally, some aspects of the AM value chain are often not accounted for when determining sustainability. Unsettled Issues in Additive Manufacturing and Improved Sustainability in the Mobility Industry uses a set of scenarios to compare the sustainability of parts made using additive and conventional technologies for both the present and future (2040) states of manufacturing. Click here to access the full SAE EDGETM Research Report portfolio.

Depending on the industry and application, views on additive manufacturing (AM), or “3D printing,” range from something that will transform an industry to it being another overhyped technology that will only find niche applications. Most views fall somewhere in between, with the most common one being that it depends on the application and technology. Because of the ability to directly produce parts from a digital file, views often include dependence on when and where the part is needed. This introduces the crux of the matter, which is how to determine when the use of AM is feasible and desirable, which is made all the more complicated by the fact that not only is AM technology in general changing quickly, but also the merits of the each AM technology relative to the others are also changing. Finally, non-AM technologies are continually improving and are increasingly adding AM-like capability.