It is suggested that the space industry is an ideal case for Additive Manufacturing (AM), with a low production volume and need for complex geometries. However, few engineers have experience of AM design. One way to support design engineers with limited experience of AM is the use of design heuristics, to enhance variety, quality and creativity of potential designs. This paper is based on literature studies and observations of creative workshops with companies from the space industry. Results showed that heuristics assisted designers and 8/10 heuristics was utilised during the ideation phase.
The advent of additive manufacturing (AM) in recent years have had a significant impact on the design process. Because of new manufacturing technology, a new area of research emerged – Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) with newly developed design support methods and tools. This paper looks into the current status of the field regarding the conceptual design of AM products, with the focus on how literature sources treat design heuristics and design principles in the context of DfAM. To answer the research question, a systematic literature review was conducted. The results are analysed, compared and discussed on three main points: the definition of the design heuristics and the design principles, level of support they provide, as well as where and how they are used inside the design process. The paper highlights the similarities and differences between design heuristics and design principles in the context of DfAM.
While many argue that Additive Manufacturing (AM) opens up new possibilities in design due to its higher degree of design freedom, it is also suggested that it can increase creativity in product design. It has been further proposed that creative outcomes are limited by the imagination of the designer: designers are often asked to take full advantage of the new design potentials given by AM, yet without having the supports that are needed to increase their creativity. Current literature focuses neither on supporting creative perspectives in Design for AM (DfAM) nor on how to manage the higher degree of design freedom that can be present. As a consequence of this noticeable gap in the literature, this paper continue to explore what areas that need to be considered in creativity management, to fully support designers in utilising their creative abilities in relation to AM in design. The paper proceeds through a literature study on creativity in DfAM and presents a case study with experienced designers who are just starting to work with AM in their design practices. This paper contributes to the field with the notion of a creativity layer laid upon DfAM, visualized by three characteristics of creativity (expertise, creative thinking skills and motivation) drawn from previous research. This results in three concrete propositions of areas that need to be considered in future research on how to include a creativity management perspective in DfAM.
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