| Abstract Scope |
While the incorporation of additive manufacturing (AM) has been growing in numerous industries including automotive, aerospace, medical, and defense, its deployment is still limited due to gaps in the processes, materials, and resulting products. To better understand the needs of AM users the authors interviewed >100 people across multiple industries as part of the NSF I-Corps program. Interviewees were asked about their use of AM, their perceived limitations of the technologies, and their critical needs for further implementation. Through synthesis of the data collected, a “hierarchy of needs” was created to reflect the articulated stages for industrial AM, consisting of 1) machine reliability, 2) part reliability, 3) material selection, 4) qualification, and 5) production in (both mass production and customized part production). This hierarchy can be used to better understand market needs and to guide further development and research of AM systems for further growth and adoption of the processes. |