Challenges and Opportunities in Design for Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) enables fabrication of complex structures, ranging from the overall geometry of a part to the topology of its internal architecture to the spatial distribution of its material composition. Along with this freedom of fabrication comes the challenge of designing for additive manufacturing. The challenges include representing and optimizing intricate geometries and functionally graded structures, incorporating Design for AM knowledge into the design process, and making Design for AM tools and knowledge more accessible to a broad range of expert and novice designers. Researchers are actively investigating many of these topics, but significant advances are needed if AM is to revolutionize and democratize product design as we know it.