This article explores the application of 3D printing technology in cost-sensitive industries such as consumer products and power systems. Metal printing offers advantages such as the ability to reduce parts count, assembly time, and weight while creating complex internal and external geometries that could not be made any other way to manufacturers in almost every industry. 3D design also makes it possible to customize medical and dental implants for each patient. Industrial product designer Keith Handy used the flexibility of 3D printing to redesign the system. Instead of putting the device above the chain, he built a tunnel-like part that the chain could pass through. Euro-K, a Berlin-based firm that develops small energy converters, created a burner that could do both. 3D printing enabled Euro-K to optimize the burner’s geometry to handle gaseous fuels and difficult-to-burn liquids like fuel oils, a byproduct of alcohol distillation, while reducing size. The article concludes that as new competitors enter the 3D printing arena, systems will grow better, faster, and less expensive. In addition, most important of all, engineers will be standing by with lots of new and surprising ways to take advantage of 3D metal technology
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
October 2017
Select Article
How Practical is 3-D Metal Printing?
3-D Printing is Rapidly Establishing Itself in Aerospace, Medicine, and Dental Implants. Is it Ready to Go to Work in More Cost-Sensitive Industries Like Consumer Products or Power Systems?
Paul Sharke is a technology writer based in Little Silver, N.J.
Mechanical Engineering. Oct 2017, 139(10): 44-49 (6 pages)
Published Online: October 1, 2017
Citation
Sharke, P. (October 1, 2017). "How Practical is 3-D Metal Printing?." ASME. Mechanical Engineering. October 2017; 139(10): 44–49. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2017-Oct-3
Download citation file:
Get Email Alerts
Cited By
Fortifying the Pipeline
Mechanical Engineering (July 2024)
Gold Medal Engineering
Mechanical Engineering (July 2024)
Generation on the Rise
Mechanical Engineering (July 2024)
What is Mechanical Engineering?
Mechanical Engineering (July 2024)
Related Articles
Progress of Additive Manufacturing Technology and Its Medical Applications
ASME Open J. Engineering (January,2022)
Additive Manufacturing for Health: State of the Art, Gaps and Needs, and Recommendations
J. Manuf. Sci. Eng (September,2018)
Sacrificial Powder Pressure Control for Infiltration of Microscale Binder Jet Printed Metal Parts
J. Manuf. Sci. Eng (May,2024)
Biomedical Manufacturing: A Review of the Emerging Research and Applications
J. Manuf. Sci. Eng (November,2020)
Related Proceedings Papers
Related Chapters
Hot Melt Ink Printing with Focus on Customized Protective Layers for Metal and Silicon Structuring and Sacrificial Molds for Die Fabrication
International Conference on Instrumentation, Measurement, Circuits and Systems (ICIMCS 2011)
Later Single-Cylinder Engines
Air Engines: The History, Science, and Reality of the Perfect Engine
Transportation
Engineering the Everyday and the Extraordinary: Milestones in Innovation