Blog 18 – Answer 2

~There are many advantages that come with additive manufacturing, including: more complex designs, variety, few constraints, less waste, less fabrication time, etc.

1. What is your EQ?
1. “How can aircraft manufacturers utilize today’s technology in order to be cost efficient?”
2. What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
1. Aircraft manufacturers can maximize cost efficiency with today’s technology through the use of efficient designs that utilize certain geometric shapes, like Laminates, T-stiffened, and Honeycomb structures.
3. What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
1. Aircraft manufacturers can maximize cost efficiency with today’s technology through the use of additive manufacturing techniques.
4. List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.
1. My answers are already based on real world applications. For example:
1. The geometric factors that contribute to efficiency are not only found in Aerospace applications, but also in the automotive, construction, and other manufacturing industries. All three designs of my first answer are widely used in aircraft, spacecraft, automobiles, etc.
2. The correlation between the geometrical shapes and aircraft cost efficiency is confirmed by real-world scientific and empirical testing.
1. Use of these geometrical factors can significantly lower the overall cost/weight of aircraft, while still retaining its overall strength/stiffness.
2. My independent component actually tests the strength and stiffness values of each shape.
3. All three geometric shapes use composite materials, which already improve the cost/performance ratio of aircraft components.
1. Composite materials are found everywhere
1. i.e. aircraft/military, appliance/electrical components, automotive/transportation, civil infrastructure, construction, consumer products, and marine equipment.
2. My second answer, additive manufacturing, is true because:
1. It is a great improvement over other forms of manufacturing/shaping(i.e.subtractive and formative)
1. i.e. 3D printing
2. Allows for more efficient internal geometrical shapes in aircraft components.
1. Subtractive and formative shaping techniques are very limited in the type of designs they can implement since most internal components are impossible to reach.
2. i.e. Airbus innovation ideas--utilize complex geometrical shapes for inner parts of components (panels, skins, etc.). These are designs that are impossible to implement with subtractive and formative manufacturing.
3. Additive manufacturing techniques are constantly being improved in time. With each year, more and more aircraft manufacturers are using additive manufacturing techniques to create complex aircraft components.
1. i.e. Airbus, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman are all trying to find an effective method to create an aircraft entirely through additive manufacturing techniques.
5. What printed source best supports your answer?
1. Ruplu Bhattacharya and Mohan Wamsi. "Primer: 3D printing, Early days for a disruptive space." Bank of America Meryll Lynch, 2013. PDF File.
6. What other source supports your answer?
1. “Composite Materials Handbook Volume 3. Polymer Matrix Composites Materials Usage, Design, and Analysis 2.4.1.1 Carbon and Graphite Fibers.” United States Department of Defense, 17 June 2002. PDF File.
2. Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. "Aviation Maintenance Technician Handbook - Airframe, Volume 2 Chapter 1: Aircraft Structures." DOT, FAA, 2012. PDF File.
3. Gjøvik, Raufoss. "Additive Manufacturing Technology Industrial demonstrators and Living labs." SFI Norman, 2008. PDF File.
4. J.F.M. Wiggenraad, P. Arendsen and J.M. da Silva Pereira. "Design optimization of stiffened composite panels with buckling and damage tolerance constraints." National Aerospace Laboratory NLR, 1998. PDF File.
7. Tie this together with a  concluding thought.
1. While my first and second answers may overlap in some aspects, I decided to use them separately because of the amount of information about each of them. There are so many factors to take into consideration when talking about efficient designs and geometrical factors. Moreover, many of the geometrical shapes I have talked about in my first answer can actually be fabricated without additive manufacturing techniques. Additive manufacturing is also a very big answer as they hold so many strengths over other manufacturing/shaping techniques.