SME believes that additive manufacturing (3D printing) faces barriers to more widespread adoption and use. There is a gap between existing knowledge and the technology’s capabilities and potential. At the heart of their new initiative are three questions to help bridge that gap:
- Can I print it?
- Should I print it?
- What’s the best machine, material and process for a particular part?
The initiative is called the Independent Technical Evaluation of Additive Manufacturing (ITEAM). The consortium is comprised of manufacturing companies, additive manufacturing equipment and material producers, industry organizations, academic institutions, service bureaus, CAD, CAE, and other software solutions providers. Here is an ITEAM overview video on YouTube.
The purpose of ITEAM is to advance additive manufacturing by providing a trusted information platform as a resource for manufacturers using this technology. Users need a better way to evaluate the feasibility of producing additively manufactured parts amidst the constantly changing field of machines, materials and processes. SME and their partners through ITEAM are building a new prototype AM Rapid Virtual Evaluation Platform.
This platform is being developed and tested by the ITEAM consortium in collaboration with Dr. Michael Grieves, renowned expert at the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT), along with GM and other major industry users in automotive and aerospace. The open platform will provide a virtual repository of AM machine/material capabilities with evaluation tools to enable users to determine their parts’ suitability to be manufactured additively.
Check out the Michael Grieves Interview from RAPID+TCT 2018.
According to the SME news release, “The ITEAM tool compares and calculates the best machine, material and process for a particular application. Utilizing SAM-CT (size, accuracy and materials + economic evaluation of cost and throughput) methodology, companies can upload their part file to the secure platform and evaluate whether something “can” and “should” be produced by additive manufacturing. This helps manufacturers reduce risking valuable time and resources on trial and error in the manufacturing process.”
Dr. Grieves explained the SAM-CT model in a recent post at 3DPrint.com entitled, How Do We Make Better Decisions in 3D Technologies? ITEAM has the Answer. In it, he shares this visual that explains how the process works. In short, “SAM is the technical evaluation of the ‘Can I make it,’” Grieves said. The SAM-CT model and Dr. Grieves’ work certainly answers the three questions SME wants to help you with, plus quite a bit more.