Design and Performance Evaluation of Additively Manufactured Mechanical Components

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing has emerged as a crucial manufacturing method for manufacturing mechanical components that have a high level of design flexibility, require minimal material waste, are lightweight and have complex geometry. Additive manufacturing differs from traditional manufacturing processes like casting, forging, machining, and forming by creating components by adding material layer-by-layer directly from digital design information. This renders it more suitable for custom-made elements, quick prototyping, working components and sophisticated engineering uses. The mechanical properties of AM components are, however, sensitive to design features, material characteristics, print direction, layer thickness, infill density, print speed, heat input, surface quality, and post processing conditions. Hence, the design and performance evaluation of printed components is crucial prior to its use in the real mechanical systems. The paper presents the design methodology, fabrication parameters, mechanical testing methods and performance characteristics of additively manufactured mechanical components. Various important evaluation techniques, including tensile, compression, flexural, hardness, fatigue, wear, surface roughness, dimensional and microstructural analysis are evaluated. The paper also describes the effects of printing parameters on strength, stiffness, fatigue life, dimensional accuracy and failure behavior. The study emphasizes that additive manufacturing offers great potential for lightweight and optimized mechanical components, but issues with anisotropy, porosity, residual stress, surface defects, quality control and standardization need to be overcome. Process optimization, real-time monitoring, post-processing, hybrid manufacturing, reliable performance validation, and more are all areas for future research.