Exploring Additive Manufacturing

This is an excerpt from Technology Trends: Exploring the Future of Maritime Innovation, a broad-reaching report from ABS charting a course for the future of marine and offshore technologies. Read the full publication at https://ww2.eagle.org/en/innovation-and-technology/technology-advancements/abs-tech-trends.html

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Additive manufacturing (AM) is the process of fusing or joining physical materials to make objects from a computer-aided design (CAD) or digital 3D model. Also known as 3D printing, these systems convert model data into a series of 2D cross-sections and then print a 3D object layer by layer.

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Engineers developed the process in the 1980s to expedite prototype development and production. While early AM systems were mainly limited to polymer-based prints, new printing processes have rapidly evolved to use materials such as metals, ceramics and carbon fiber in the last decade.

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The applications for AM have grown alongside its ever-expanding material capabilities. Today, the process is in use in various industries, including automotive, aviation, medical and construction. AM systems put production capabilities in the hands of the end-user, cutting time and costs associated with traditional manufacturing and supply chains.

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Looking Into the Future

As AM continues to evolve, the process could revolutionize how the marine and offshore industries handle vessel or individual system repairs. By decentralizing part manufacturing, some repairs or part replacements could be achieved independent of supply chains and far from ports.

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On-site or remote AM systems can provide additional value for users by printing parts nearer to the point of need, reducing the woes of traditional logistics and supply chain services. Cloud-based storage of digital part files, coupled with on-demand manufacturing, can now replace large, physical inventories of complex parts. AM systems shift the focus to maintaining blockchain-secured part files on the cloud, managing an inventory of materials or feedstock and printing uniquely serial-numbered parts just-in-time, improve efficiency and streamlining the repair process.

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The 3D printing nature of AM systems also provides more flexibility in part design. Printing can be more cost-effective than traditional machining or casting of complex shapes while also providing greater control of material properties. When used with generative design, the benefits can be further enhanced to increase part performance, create lightweight parts, and provide solutions to part consolidation, whereby systems can now integrate multiple pieces into a single part during printing, further reducing assembly and installation costs.

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AM could also integrate with other advanced digitalization technologies to minimize downtime. For example, in the event of an impending noncritical part failure, the onboard systems would be able to self-diagnose and alert an AM machine to start printing immediately. Alternatively, a crewmember could select the part from the digital inventory and start printing at any time.

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AM still needs to overcome important challenges — including system cost and space constraints, as-built anisotropic mechanical properties and post-processing requirements — to be viable for marine use. Some of these issues could be alleviated by deploying systems with a tiered approach as technology advances, starting with printing noncritical parts on board vessels.

As AM continues to evolve, systems could eventually produce more critical metal parts or even meet large-scale needs, such as structural or machine components.

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Read the full publication at https://ww2.eagle.org/en/innovation-and-technology/technology-advancements/abs-tech-trends.html