What are the key differences between additive and subtractive manufacturing?

Die Additive Fertigung ist ein weiteres Fertigungsverfahren und ersetzt keine bestehenden Verfahren. Vielmehr ist es eine Erg?nzung und bietet neue M?glichkeiten bei Geometrien und L?sungen, welche durch bisherige und bekannte Verfahren aktuell nicht herstellbar sind. Au?erdem bietet es M?glichkeiten zur Gewichts- und Materialreduktion, zum Leichtbau, der M?glichkeit Baugruppen zu einem einzigen Teil zusammenzufügen und vieles mehr. Um den vollen Mehrwert heben zu k?nnen, ist meist jedoch eine andere Herangehensweise am Design und der Konstruktion notwendig.

The most significant distinction between additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing lies in their processes, as their names suggest. Additive manufacturing involves adding layers onto the previous ones, while subtractive manufacturing removes layers to create a specimen. Consequently, subtractive methods generate more waste compared to additive methods, making additive manufacturing more material-efficient. This efficiency is particularly crucial for structures using expensive materials.

Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, builds objects layer by layer from a digital model, allowing intricate designs and internal structures. Processes like FDM and SLA exemplify this approach. Subtractive manufacturing, in contrast, starts with a solid block, removing excess material through methods like milling. Additive methods minimize waste and enable complexity, while subtractive processes involve cutting away material, often requiring more post-processing. The choice depends on factors like design complexity and material needs.

Additive manufacturing (AM) and subtractive manufacturing (SM) differ in cost, design freedom, and accuracy. AM often incurs higher initial costs due to specialized equipment, materials, and post-processing. SM, utilizing subtracting methods like milling, can have lower initial costs. Design freedom is a strength of AM, allowing complex geometries with minimal constraints, while SM may face limitations. Accuracy in AM can be excellent for intricate structures, but SM generally provides higher precision for traditional shapes due to mature machining techniques. Consider trade-offs based on your specific project requirements.

Rosswag Engineering harnesses additive manufacturing to create metal parts with complex geometries, unattainable by traditional methods. Using LPBF, we build from metal powders, allowing for intricate designs with high material efficiency, vital for aerospace and automotive industries seeking performance and sustainability.

La fabricación aditiva se centra en la construcción por capas, permitiendo dise?os más complejos y reduciendo el desperdicio de material, mientras que la fabricación sustractiva implica la eliminación de material de una pieza más grande, siendo eficiente para producciones en volumen y trabajando con una variedad de materiales. Ambas tecnologías tienen sus aplicaciones específicas y se eligen según los requisitos del proyecto y las características de las piezas a producir.

Rosswag Engineering complements additive techniques with subtractive manufacturing like CNC machining for high-precision parts. This hybrid approach ensures smooth finishes and tight tolerances, essential for components in high-performance sectors like aerospace, where quality cannot be compromised.

The strength and durability of additive manufacturing components mainly depend on the materials and the technology being used to produce them. Established AM technology like Powder bed fusion can produce parts with properties that match and excel the subtractive manufacturing. As far as voids, cracks and anisotropy can be minimised or avoided through rigorous process control and qualifying the feedstock.

Rosswag Engineering is advancing the capabilities of LPBF with voxel-graded materials, allowing for localized hardness modifications within a part. This innovation enables the creation of components with tailored properties, achieving more than a 20% change in hardness in specific areas, enhancing functionality and performance for specialized applications.

This whole post is kind of misleading. Almost all additively manufactured parts also get machined. It is seldom one or the other. The cost will depend on many factors including geometry, size, material, minimum order quantities, requested lead time,and more. There are many cases where machining alone is the right process choice. Some times the right approach is additive plus casting. Or it could be one of several dozen additive manufacturing processes.

The cost of an additively manufactured part almost remains constant with the quantity. Subtractive manufacturing becomes economical at large quantities due to spreading tooling costs over more units. High-volume production enables manufacturers to reduce per-unit costs by optimizing processes, utilizing economies of scale, and streamlining supply chain lead times. AM is often looked upon for low quantities where the opportunity to streamline the production is less

Ein wichtiger Unterschied ist, dass das Denken in der Subtraktive Fertigung in Baukl?tzen und geometrischen Primitiven von Vorteil ist und in der Additiven Fertigung dieses Denken durch das Formen von Knetmasse und Wachstum wie in der Natur ersetzt werden.

Design freedom offered by AM opens up the opportunity for part consolidation, topology optimisation, and functional integration. Thereby driving innovative product designs.

The subtractive and additive manufacturing processes should go hand in hand for the benefit of both manufacturing processes. Toolings produced with Additive manufacturing can enhance the efficiency of the subtractive process. The parts with high precision requirements often involve subtractive manufacturing in the finishing stages.

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) with methods like Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) and Stereolithography (SLA), offers speed advantages for intricate designs due to its layer-by-layer construction. On the contrary, subtractive manufacturing may be faster for simple, large-scale production but can be slower for complex designs due to multiple tool changes and operations.

When talking about Additive Manufacturing or Substractive methods, both differ mainly in the way is obtained the final shape. The subtractive method starts from a primitive shape or cube, carving it until the piece is obtained. Very good for mechanical and physical properties, but has limitations in intrincated shapes and the multiple processes and tools involved. For the additive method, material is deposited layer by layer, building the design in a generative way, which allows very organic shapes but normally the technical precision is lower and reduced in some material′s properties, normally in the fusion of these layers. Each technology has its advantages and limitations, and the true benefit is obtained when both are complemented.