Improving the Integration of Design for Additive Manufacturing Heuristics into Designs Through Educational Interventions
Open Access
- Author:
- Pearl, Seth
- Graduate Program:
- Mechanical Engineering
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- February 21, 2025
- Committee Members:
- Robert Kunz, Professor in Charge/Director of Graduate Studies
Michael Yukish, Outside Unit & Field Member
Nicholas Meisel, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Timothy Simpson, Major Field Member
Scarlett Miller, Major Field Member - Keywords:
- Additive Manufacturing
Design
Education
Design for Education
Manufacturing
Design for Manufacturing
DfAM
Engineering Design
Engineering Education - Abstract:
- Additive manufacturing (AM) has integrated into society in a manner which indicates the technology will remain a mainstay for the foreseeable future within academia and industry. The ways in which we design with AM in mind, however, need an in-depth reflection to evaluate if we are creating designs that are efficient for the technology while minimizing the possibility of manufacturing defects. For this purpose, this research explores the ways in which students design for AM and what can be done to help them improve the suitability of their designs for this technology. The changes in the additive manufacturability considers three areas: (1) students’ natural design tendencies, (2) design for manufacturing (DfM) heuristic usage, and (3) AM intervention techniques. First, this research compares the students’ previous experience with traditional manufacturing (TM) and AM to their early-stage designs and the intervention techniques which can potentially influence the manufacturability of their designs. This research evaluates the manufacturability of the students’ designs for TM and AM when no manufacturing constraints are imposed in open-ended design challenges. Evidence from this research indicates that experience with AM significantly improves a designs’ additive manufacturability. Findings from the introduction of priming content yielded no improvements for the designs’ manufacturability, indicating the strength of the students’ manufacturing experience which needs to be overcome for students to create suitable designs for AM. Second, this research considers the DfM heuristics which students are leveraging in their designs. This research compared the assessments conducted by students and relevant experts for the students’ application of design for TM (DfTM) and design for AM (DfAM) heuristics into their designs. Evidence from this research indicates that an assessment of the designs from students significantly differs from an assessment conducted by experts, emphasizing the need to have relevant experts to assess the designs for their manufacturability. Findings from this research indicate that students’ early-stage designs were improved for AM when they considered incorporating complex geometric structures into their designs. Third, this research considers alternative intervention techniques to improve the additive manufacturability of students’ early-stage designs for AM. This research replaces the lecture-style priming content with DfAM heuristic cards that consider the accompanying reference example modality and relevancy provided to the students. Evidence from this research reveals the modality and relevancy of DfAM heuristic cards can contribute to significantly improving a designs’ manufacturability for AM. Findings from this research again emphasize the significance of improving a designs’ manufacturability for AM by incorporating complex geometric structures into the designs while also highlighting the need to have this heuristic in the proper modality and relevancy for students. Fourth, this research considers the timing for which to implement the DfAM intervention to improve the additive manufacturability of students’ early-stage designs for AM. This research evaluates students’ application of DfAM heuristics into their early-stage designs for AM by considering whether they were provided with intervention content either before or after they participated in a brainstorm session. Evidence from this research reveals the timing of the DfAM intervention can contribute to significantly improving a designs’ manufacturability for AM. Findings from this research indicate that students significantly applied certain Opportunistic DfAM (O-DfAM) heuristics when the intervention took place before converging, while certain Restrictive DfAM (R-DfAM) heuristics were significantly applied when the intervention took place after converging and before diverging. These investigations provide new knowledge on how students design for manufacturing applications, the DfM heuristics that need to be considered for improving design manufacturability, and the effects on design manufacturability for AM through considering multiple intervention techniques. Summarizing the connection of these investigations yields the considerations to implement in the engineering design process which will lead to significant changes in students’ early-stage designs to improve their suitability for AM. Implementing these considerations will free students from their natural design tendencies and have them explore the design space to create suitable designs for AM. The recommendations from these investigations will remain vital as the technology continues to improve and evolve for the betterment of society. In conclusion, this research presents transformative insight into the future of engineering design, contributes to existing AM literature, and provides new opportunities for research and practice in AM and DfAM education.