MS4642: Additive Manufacturing of Materials

Academic Units1
Semester1
Pre-requisite(s)Nil
Co-requisite(s)Nil

Course Instructors

Assistant Professor Lai Changquan

Course AIMS

The aim of this course is to provide a practical overview of Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques and the impact of their process flows on the properties of the materials produced. Students will be taught how to critically evaluate the advantages, limitations and material compatibility of each AM technique.

The coursework will provide students with the means to select the most appropriate AM technique and optimize the processing parameters for their needs. It will also include recent advances in AM to ensure students stay abreast with the most cutting-edge developments, allowing their knowledge to be relevant and industry-ready upon graduation.

This course is most suitable for material scientists and engineers who would like to understand more about the possibilities of material processing through AM and for process engineers and scientists to understand more about the effect of AM processes on the material properties.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you (as a student) would be able to:

  1. List and describe the 7 major categories of Additive Manufacturing (AM).
  2. Understand the working principles of each technique.
  3. Explain the advantages and limitations of each technique.
  4. Explain how the process flow of each technique affects material compatibility and performance.
  5. Identify material defects and explain they arise.
  6. Demonstrate knowledge on the applicability of AM materials.

Course Content

  1. Introduction to Additive Manufacturing: What is it? Why is important? Latest news.
  2. Additive Manufacturing: Software; Basic explanation and preparation of STL files and gcode
  3. Short overview on the fundamentals of material elasticity and viscoelasticity, mechanics of materials, microstructures
  4. Description of the 7 categories of Additive Manufacturing – process flow; advantages and limitations; effect on material compatibility and performance (dimensional stability, structural properties etc.)
  5. Effect of processing parameters on defect formation

Reading and References

  1. '3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing: Principles and Applications', 5th edition, World Scientific(2017)
  2. Additive Manufacturing Technologies Hardcover (2020)by Ian Gibson (Author), David Rosen (Author), Brent Stucker (Author), Mahyar Khorasani (Author) ISBN-10 : 3030561267 ISBN-13 : 978-3030561260