Additive Manufacturing-Enabled Part Count Reduction: A Lifecycle Perspective

Part count reduction (PCR) is one of the typical motivations for using additive manufacturing (AM) processes. However, the implications and trade-offs of employing AM for PCR are not well understood. The deficits are mainly reflected in two aspects: (1) lifecycle-effect analysis of PCR is rare and scattered; (2) current PCR rules lack full consideration of AM capabilities and constraints. To fill these gaps, this paper first summarizes the main effect of general PCR (G-PCR) on lifecycle activities to make designers aware of potential benefits and risks and discusses in a point-to-point fashion the new opportunities and challenges presented by AM-enabled PCR (AM-PCR). Second, a new set of design rules and principles are proposed to support potential candidate detection for AM-PCR. Third, a dual-level screening and refinement design framework is presented aiming at finding the optimal combination of AM-PCR candidates. In this framework, the first level down-samples combinatory space based on the proposed new rules while the second one exhausts and refines each feasible solution via design optimization. A case study of a motorcycle steering assembly is considered to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design rules and framework. In the end, possible challenges and limitations of the presented design framework are discussed.