ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING GOES LARGA

摘要

Additive manufacturing creates objects in a painstaking, layer-by-layer process, building them up one micron at a time. An ambitious new project has set its sights on making metal components that will be measured in metres rather than millimetres, but first it must navigate what researchers call 'the valley of death'. The Open Architecture Additive Manufacturing (OAAM) project will build three powerful AM machines to help convince companies to invest in the technology, and to print larger metallic components ranging from plane landing gear to satellite fuel tanks.