Functional, technical and economical requirements integration for additive manufacturing design education

Additive Manufacturing (AM) enables designers to consider the benefits of digital manufacturing from the early stages of design. This may include the use of part integration to combine all required functions, utilizing multiple materials, moving assemblies, different local properties such as colour and texture, etc. Cost analysis can also be factored in throughout the entire value chain, from design to the finishing operations in comparison to traditional processes and conventional ways of working. Therefore, the concept of Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) is more than a geometrical issue on a CAD system, and not limited only to topological optimization or lattice integration.