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Industries that will drive the market over the next decade include the military, dentistry, jewelry, entertainment products (e.g., video games), collectables, home accessories, and toys.

Two whole layer AM processes have been commercialized and two others are in the works. This type of processing is not only faster, but it may offer improvements in accuracy, surface finish, simplicity, and machine reliability.

Successful completion of the following recommendations will lead to significant benefits on affordability, maintainability, reliability, rapidity and functionality in practical applications of AM. The technologies will become more adopted by the technical community with AM expertise, but there is a great potential for catalyzing the use of AM technologies by a broad population of entrepreneurs.

Design Recommendations
• Create conceptual design methods to aid designers in defining and exploring design spaces enabled by AM.
• Produce a new foundation for computer-aided design systems to overcome the limitations of existing solid modeling in representing complex geometries and multiple materials.
• Provide a multiscale modeling and inverse design methodology to assist in navigating complex process-structure-property relationships.
• Create methods to model and design with variability: shape, properties, process, etc.

Process Modeling and Control Recommendations
• Develop predictive process-structure-property relationships integrated with CAD/E/M tools.
• Create closed-loop and adaptive control systems with feedforward and feedback capabilities. Control system algorithms must be based on predictive models of system response to process changes.
• Produce new sensors that can operate in build chamber environments and sensor fusion methods.

Materials, Processes and Machines Recommendations

• Develop a better understanding of the basic physics of AM processes to capture the complexity in the multiple interacting physical phenomena.
• Create scalable, fast line or area material processing methods to greatly increase machine throughput.
• Create open-architecture controllers and reconfigurable machine modules.
• Exploit unique AM characteristics to produce epitaxial metallic structures, fabricate parts with multiple and functionally gradient materials, and embed components during fabrication processes.
• Develop screening methodologies to answer the question as to why some materials are processable by AM and some are not.
• Develop tools for AM fabrication of structures and devices atom by atom and design for nanomanufacturing.
• Develop and identify sustainable (green) materials including recyclable, reusable, and biodegradable materials.

Biomedical Applications Recommendations
• Create design and modeling methods for customized implants and medical devices.
• Develop viable Bio-AM (BAM) processes for fabrication of “smart scaffolds” and for construction of 3D biological and tissue models using living biologics.
• Create computer-aided BAM including modeling, analysis and simulation of cell responses and cell-tissue growth behavior.

8 page pdf presentation on Electron beam freeform fabrication

The buy to fly ratio is the mass of material that is require to machine a part compared to the mass of material in the finished part.

Ryan Wicker, University of Texas at el Paso, works on Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM). Wicker’s group and Brent Stucker’s group at Utah State developed a flexible and mobile fused deposition modeling (FDM) manufacturing system that can deposit material on virtually any surface. This new machine has been integrated with an ultrasonic consolidation (UC) machine and used to dispense support material for UC fabrication as well as a potting material for embedded electronics so that the combined processes can produce fully functional integrated electronic systems. The development of integrated technologies for fabricating 3D electronic systems is a focus of my group, and I believe represents another significant opportunity for growth of our industry. It is interesting that a “printable/flexible electronics” industry already exists (in the ~$10B range), and this industry has by and large emerged from the electronics fabrication industry — I believe both industries can benefit from cross-fertilization (especially since some industry estimates in “printable electronics” include revenues in excess of $100B and possibly up to $300B by 2025.