Title: Sustinable 3D Printing In Manufacturing and Construction

Biography:

Dr Tan Ming Jen attended Anglo-Chinese School and Anglo-Chinese Junior College, Singapore and received both his B.Sc (Eng.) and Ph.D. from The Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London. He was Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellow at Kyoto University in 1991, Science & Technology Agency (STA) Fellow at the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory (A.I.S.T., M.I.T.I.), Tsukuba, Japan 1992-93, Visiting Scientist at Columbia University (2003) and Fulbright Scholar (2004) at both UCLA and Northwestern University in the U.S. Dr Tan has more than 200 publications in various international journals and also has more than 150 publications in international conference proceedings and book chapters. His research has over 5000 citations (Source: Scopus 2018). To date he has attracted over S$90 million research and development funds from various government funding agencies, industries and international sources as Principal Investigator. He has been consulted regularly by local industries for solving material problems and providing solutions. He is up to recently, the Programme Director (Building & Construction) at the Singapore Centre of 3D Printing (SC3DP), and currently Director of the HP-NTU Digital Manufacturing Corporate Lab

Abstract

Additive manufacturing can greatly increase a manufacturers efficiency. When using expensive materials like titanium, manufacturers that use 3D printing can save big. Being able to build the component from the bottom up gives manufacturers the unique ability to only use the amount of material that is absolutely necessary. Furthermore, manufacturers can create complex and lightweight components that were not possible with subtractive manufacturing. Having the ability to create complex parts lets manufacturers build a product that would usually consist of multiple parts and turn it into one solid product. Not only can this improve the overall strength of the product, but it requires less time and energy than manufacturing the separate components and then fastening them together. Also, aerospace manufacturers have found that they can produce hollow structures that were not possible with traditional manufacturing techniques. 3D printing uses less material as well as reducing the weight of the overall product. Less weight on an aircraft means less fuel consumed.