Additive Manufacturing

Oriented towards the practitioner, this book presents a clear overview of additive manufacturing, going from the basics to the properties and special aspects of industrially available machines. From the generation of data to the forming method, the complete process chain is shown in a practical light. In particular, the following additive manufacturing technologies are discussed extensively:
- Polymerization (e.g., stereolithography)
- Sintering and melting (e.g., laser sintering)
- Layer laminate method (e.g., laminated object manufacturing, LOM)
- Extrusion (e.g., fused deposition modeling, FDM)
- 3D printing
Applications for the production of models and prototypes (rapid prototyping), tools, tool inserts, and forms (rapid tooling) as well as end products (rapid manufacturing) are covered in detailed chapters with examples. Questions of efficiency are discussed from a strategic point of view, and also from an operational perspective.
This book was written to support product developers and people responsible for production who face the challenges of implementing additive manufacturing not just for prototypes or one-off parts, but for its increaingly important application in direct production of finished products. The method not only reduces the demands on industrial infrastructure, but also opens up new perspectives in terms of decentralized production and customer inclusive individualized production (customization, cyberproduction).

Dr.-Ing. Andreas Gebhardt studierte an der technischen Hochschule Aachen Maschinenbau mit dem Schwerpunkt Motoren- und Turbinenbau. Nach Stationen als Geschäftsführer in der mittelständischen Wirtschaft wurde er zum Sommersemester 2000 als Professor für Hochleistungsverfahren der Fertigungstechnik und Rapid Prototyping an die Fachhochschule Aachen berufen. Dort leitet er eine Forschergruppe und Labore zum Lasersintern von Metallen (SLM Verfahren), Polymerdrucken, 3D-Drucken (Pulver-Binder Verfahren), Extrusionsverfahren (FDM) und zum Einsatz unterschiedlicher Fabber. Seit dem Wintersemester 2000 ist Andreas Gebhardt Gastprofessor am City College der City University New York. 2004 gründete er das RTeJournal (www.rtejournal.de), eine 'open-access' online-Zeitschrift für Rapid Technology und ist dessen Herausgeber.