| Abstract Scope |
Additive manufacturing (AM) has reformed the design and manufacturing of parts by offering design and manufacturing freedom. For Industry 4.0, where machines are coupled into an IoT network, AM provides a digital footprint that can result in considerable vulnerabilities. At each step of AM, there exists the possibility of cyber-attacks that will affect the part quality. To address this issue, this research will introduce a blockchain-based framework to protect AM intellectual property (IP) data at each step, from CAD design to part delivery. The design files, operating conditions, and sensor logs will be immutably recorded, while the smart contracts will manage secure, role-based access, impose version control, and commence automated reliability checks. Each action will be cryptographically signed and hashed, resulting in tamper-proof audit trail that tracks the entire process. The framework will be evaluated by simulating various cyber-attacks to assess its capability to ensure data authenticity, integrity, and traceability. |