Running head: 3D PRINTING FOR PRODUCT DEVELPOMENT AND THE UAS INDUSTRY

3D Printing for product development and the UAS industry.

A review of the Literature
Edilberto Diaz-Gomez
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Author Note
This paper was prepared for Research 202, by Professor Dr, Cannon.

Running head: 3D PRINTING FOR PRODUCT DEVELPOMENT AND THE UAS INDUSTRY

Introduction

With technology improving the way companies do prototyping, developing new products
that are rapidly adjusted to the market is now easier for companies around the world. With
technologies such 3d printers, complex objects could be prototyped in short periods of time
surpassing the traditional manufacturing process in product development. The idea behind this
literature review is to find if 3D modeled parts are as functional as the parts made in traditional
methods. I choose this area, because it is a cornerstone in the way we could prototype Unmanned
Aerial Systems, as my area of interest and future career.

Literature Review

In aerospace and aviation prototyping and rapid development is fundamental in order to

analyze structures and shape for best aerodynamics effects as an example. The benefits of inspace additive manufacturing or 3d Printing for spacecraft could provide advantages over
conventional manufacturing processes, although this rapidly advancing technology can also
potentially enable space-based construction of large structures and, perhaps someday,

Running head: 3D PRINTING FOR PRODUCT DEVELPOMENT AND THE UAS INDUSTRY

substantially in the future, entire spacecraft (National Academies Press, Page 12). Because 3d
printer are widely used I many markets, studies have shown that savings by implementing this
technique could be as much as 70 percent in most cases. Different industries such automotive are
currently using 3d printing to test different concepts and therefore this new method for product
development has some impact in the Unmanned systems. NASA as an example use intricate,
custom parts crafted by machinist and engineers, a process that take years to finish a prototype
for a part, this process takes them years in order to minimize the cost to produce such parts, with
3d prototyping this process can be minimized and the cost of producing complex parts could be
reduce to a minimum, allowing different parts to be produce and incentive the whole industry to
maybe find breakthroughs. One of the more ambitious goals for laser and electron melting
strategies for 3D printing/additive manufacturing has been the fabrication of turbine blades and
other turbine components from nickel and cobalt-base super alloys, especially directional and
single-crystal blade structures. Beginning in the early 1960s, turbine blade structures first
emerged as polycrystalline nickel-base super alloys that evolved to directional, columnar grains
in the 1970s and single-crystal structures in the past 3 decades. (Acharya et al. and Basak and
Das,2014)

Research Question

What would happen if quality of materials for the 3d product development where improve
to the point metal could be 3d printed. Is there significance change in weight limits from 3d
printed material that could motivate the Unmanned Systems industry to utilize this technology as
the primary resource for prototyping.

Running head: 3D PRINTING FOR PRODUCT DEVELPOMENT AND THE UAS INDUSTRY

Theoretical Framework

The use of 3D printing is a fairly new method, for this research the dependent variable is
how fast is the industry adapting to this new method of production. The independent variables
could be one, that the quality of the material printed is not strong enough for some applications,
therefore affecting directly the uses on Unmanned Aerial Systems. Second that not many
materials can be 3D printed, as an example in aerospace and aviation aluminum is a core
material for structures, but 3D printers wont print aluminum yet.

For the same reason is highly important to create an approach of collaborative innovation this
means that developing different parts for an aircraft could be a process of collaboration between
different companies working together on the same project. 3D printing would benefit this process
also and speed up the prototyping and conceptual design process as parts for the model affecting
directly our variable too. In previous research on the interface between product development and
production, methods such as design for manufacturing, design for assembly and concurrent
engineering are highly advocated. It is argued that the utilization of these methods improves the
degree of fit between the specifications of the product design and the capabilities of the
production process (Adler, 1995)

Running head: 3D PRINTING FOR PRODUCT DEVELPOMENT AND THE UAS INDUSTRY

Hypothesis
Companies that are working on structures and components for the Unmanned Aerial systems
are currently using more 3d printers to prototype than the conventional product development
techniques.
The use of 3D printer will eliminate the need of machinist in the years to come.

However, the technology behind 3d printers is still evolving, therefore until we have a solid
understanding on materials that can be printed in these equipment, we are limited by the physical
characteristics they show in the materials that can be used for printing.

Running head: 3D PRINTING FOR PRODUCT DEVELPOMENT AND THE UAS INDUSTRY

References

Acharya, R. & Das, S. Metal and Materials Trans (2015) 46: 3864. doi:10.1007/s11661-0152912-6

Gibson, I., Rosen, D. W., & Stucker, B. (n.d.). Additive manufacturing technologies: 3D
printing, rapid prototyping and direct digital manufacturing. Pag 200-201

Jacobs, P. F., & Reid, D. T. (1992). Rapid prototyping & manufacturing: Fundamentals of
stereolithography. Dearborn, MI: Society of Manufacturing Engineers in cooperation with
the Computer and Automated Systems Association of SME. Pag 140-155

Murr, L. E. (n.d.). Handbook of materials structures, properties, processing and performance:

vol. 2, Springer, Heidelberg (2015), pp. 607699 Part XI, Advanced Materials Processing
and Fabrication: 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing Technologies