Potential in additive manufacturing of a shaft

Abstract: Additive Manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D-printing, is the process of joining materials layer by layerfrom a 3D-model data and has several advantages over traditional manufacturing techniques. AM is destinedto change the way products are designed and manufactured in the future. In recent years, the process hasrapidly gained interest in all industry segments due to its ability to create customized and complex geometriesfor no added costs. This study focuses on a rather unexplored area of application of AM, namely of a vehiclecomponent that traditionally is manufactured with conventional manufacturing methods. The purpose ofthis study is to investigate the potential of AM of a PTO-shaft used in Scania's trucks. With the help oftopology optimization and a developed cost estimation model, dierent design cases are compared to eachother. Three areas are investigated: design, mechanical performance, and cost. The study found that adesign with roughly 25 % weight reduction is realizable, and would today cost about 15 times the cost forseries production using traditional manufacturing methods. This have clearly suggested that the PTO-shaftis not suitable for AM. However, by forecasting the cost into the future, the study found that printing thePTO-shaft are likely to be cost eective in terms of prototype production in the future, with up to about200 e in cost savings per part.