Stress Testing 3D Printed Parts for End-Use Applications

Today, most manufacturing methods such as molding or forming are based on the concept of mass production: fabricating large quantities of identical goods. While these techniques are extremely cost-efficient for high-volume production (over 10,000 parts), they require standardization, expensive machinery, and tooling that rarely allow for product modifications.

In contrast, the fabrication of items based on unique specifications, or custom manufacturing, is traditionally performed manually in small workshops. Because of the high proportion of manual labor and less efficient tools, this results in a higher cost per part for custom products. For the same reasons, creating large quantities of individually custom-built goods, referred to as mass customization, has seldom been economically viable.

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a powerful tool that offers unique benefits, making it ideal for low volume production, custom manufacturing, and mass customization. In-house 3D printing enables manufacturers to tighten supply chains and shorten lead times with local, on-demand production to meet changing business needs rapidly.

Stereolithography (SLA) 3D printers are great tools to fabricate parts rapidly and at a low cost.