A sign of the advancing understanding of additive manufacturing: Many of the previous misperceptions have gone away. Or they have at least dramatically declined. Few in manufacturing today believe 3D printing is as simple as "hit print," and most understand that the design of the part determines how well it can take advantage of AM. However, there are still pervasive misperceptions about AM among the manufacturers today who are just beginning to explore it. Tim Simpson and Peter Zelinski talk about some of the false ideas about additive manufacturing that are in the air and current now. Part of the challenge is simply that AM technology is still changing rapidly; assumptions become invalidated quickly. Tim ends up talking about the pace of this change in additive and what is setting that pace.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Penn State’s CIMP-3D, the additive manufacturing research facility Tim co-leads
• Additive manufacturing’s increasing presence at IMTS, the International Manufacturing Technology Show
• Stryker additive implant design and the scope of its AM production
• Scale production of medical implants by RMS Additive and Tangible Solutions
• Additive parts on Mars
• Flight-critical MV-22B Osprey link component made additively
• Control over porosity in additive parts

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