Editorial

Freeform fabrication is a transition collection of technologies. In some respects, the field is mature. Commercial stereolithography is more than 20 years old, with selective laser sintering, 3D printing and fused deposition modeling not far behind. On the other hand, there remain significant barriers to full utilization of additive manufacturing, and breakthrough technologies are still appearing.

This issue of the Rapid Prototyping Journal contains six papers chosen as “SFF Symposium Outstanding Papers,” selected from presentations at the 17th Annual Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium held in August 14-16,2006 in Austin, Texas. The basis for selection included expert reviews of the conference paper and presentation, and the relevance of the subject matter to the field.

These SFF Symposium Outstanding Papers describe solution approaches to a variety of obstacles. Vandenbroucke and Kruth advance the development of direct metal rapid manufacturing of parts for medical applications. The creation of miniaturized parts in metals is addressed by Regenfuss and co-workers. A methodology is described by Maheshwaraa et al. for creation of large parts whose overall dimensions exceed the size of the build chamber. Brent Stucker and co-workers report on ultrasonic consolidation, a direct-metal freeform process that does not require elevated temperatures. The process is particularly suited to embedded sensors and conduits that are thermally sensitive. Frank Liou et al. mitigate the deleterious effects of support structures in direct manufacturing using hybrid Laser Aided Manufacturing Processing and machining. Malone and Lipson present a first step towards an affordable, build-at- home freeform fabrication apparatus.

The potential impact of the work embodied in these articles is high. They represent in most cases early efforts to enable rapid manufacturing of high quality metal parts, manufacturing of small and large objects, and placing of freeform fabrication into the hands of the technical enthusiast. Their potential lies as stepping stones to wider acceptance of freeform processing by the technical community, engineering practitioners and the general public.

David L. BourellLaboratory for Freeform Fabrication, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA