Reliability Assessment Framework for Additive Manufactured Products

An increasing number of industries around the world are adopting advance manufacturing technologies for product design, among which additive manufacturing (AM) is gaining attention among aerospace, defense, automotive and health care domains. Products with complicated designs demanding lesser weight, improved performance and conformance are manufactured by companies using AM technologies. Some noticeable examples of ducting, airflow system and vent products in the aerospace domain can be seen being made out of AM techniques. One of the benefits being mentioned is the significant reduction in the number of components going into a finished product, thereby impacting the supply chain as well. However, one of the challenges in AM process is to reduce the process variation which affects the reliability of the product. To realize the true benefits of additively manufactured products, it is imperative to ensure that the reliability of AM products is similar or better than traditionally manufactured products. Current state of art for assessing reliability of traditionally manufactured products is mature. However, the reliability assessment framework for products manufactured by advanced technologies are being studied upon. In this direction, this paper highlights a structured reliability assessment framework for additive manufactured products, which will help in identifying, analyzing and mitigating reliability risks as part of product development life cycle.