Introduction to Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) methods have great potential for promoting transformative research in many fields across the vast spectrum of engineering and materials science. AM is one of the leading forms of advanced manufacturing which enables direct computer-aided design (CAD) to part production without part-specific tooling. In October 2015 the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop of experts from diverse communities to examine predictive theoretical and computational approaches for various AM technologies. While experimental workshops in AM have been held in the past, this workshop uniquely focused on theoretical and computational approaches and involved areas such as simulation-based engineering and science, integrated computational materials engineering, mechanics, materials science, manufacturing processes, and other specialized areas. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.