Encouraging Creativity through Design for Additive Manufacturing: An Investigation in Engineering Design Education
Restricted (Penn State Only)
- Author:
- Prabhu, Rohan
- Graduate Program:
- Mechanical Engineering (PHD)
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- June 02, 2021
- Committee Members:
- Nicholas Meisel, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Timothy Simpson, Outside Field Member
Scarlett Miller, Major Field Member
Daniel Connell Haworth, Program Head/Chair
Samuel Hunter, Outside Unit & Minor Member - Keywords:
- additive manufacturing
design for additive manufacturing
creativity
design education
engineering design
design tasks
motivation
complexity - Abstract:
- Additive manufacturing (AM) processes are a group of manufacturing technologies that build parts by processing material layer-by-layer. These processes starkly contrast against traditional, subtractive manufacturing processes, which manufacture parts by removing material from stock material. Given this additive material processing technique, AM processes present designers with unique manufacturing capabilities, previously impossible with traditional manufacturing. These capabilities, in turn, present new design freedoms and to help designers leverage these design freedoms, researchers have proposed design techniques collectively known as opportunistic design for AM (DfAM). On the other hand, AM processes also present characteristics limitations that impact the manufacturability of AM solutions. To help designers overcome the limitations of AM, researchers have proposed design tools and methods collectively known as ‘restrictive’ DfAM. As AM processes become more ubiquitous in engineering, design, and manufacturing, there has emerged a need for a workforce skilled in designing for AM (DfAM). Such an AM and DfAM-skilled workforce must particularly be skilled in creatively leveraging the offerings of AM processes. Despite this need for an AM and DfAM-skilled workforce, little research has systematically investigated the formulation of DfAM educational interventions that support student learning and creativity. The primary objective in this research was to explore this research gap by studying the effects of variations in a DfAM educational intervention – comprising content presentations and design tasks – on student learning and creativity. Specifically, the effects of three components of a DfAM educational intervention are tested: (1) the content and order of DfAM information presentation, (2) the definition of the AM design task, and (3) the competitive structure of the AM design task. The effects of these variations were experimentally tested by comparing changes in students’ DfAM self-efficacy and the creativity of students’ design outcomes. The effects of variations in these components were tested through experiments with approximately 600 students in mechanical engineering. Furthermore, a DfAM self-efficacy scale was developed and validated in this research to measure student learning. The findings from these experiments are used to provide recommendations for the formulation of task-based DfAM educational interventions that: (1) increase students’ DfAM self-efficacy, (2) encourage students to generate ideas of high AM technical goodness, and (3) encourage students to generate more creative ideas when using AM. The findings of this research will help educators formulate effective DfAM educational interventions and tasks to foster a workforce skilled in DfAM. Moreover, these findings will also help identify strategies to support creativity in engineering design by leveraging DfAM.