Naval additive manufacturing : bridging the gap between research and implementation

Additive manufacturing (AM), commonly known as three-dimensional printing, presents numerous advantages over traditional production methods, including design-to-end-use process reduction and on-demand generation of needed parts. While some companies have recently been founded with AM as their focus, many established large organizations are striving to find ways that the technology facilitates strategy execution. With its manufacturing base and requisite supply infrastructure, the military branches pose a significant opportunity for AM implementation. In particular, the U.S. Navy's continual pursuit to enhance operational readiness and advance unit self-sustainability provides a ripe environment for AM. This research sought to advance the Navy's AM implementation initiatives through the identification of candidate applications, bridging the detected gap between ashore AM research developments and the cognizance of its front-line personnel.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Johnsen, David P.Nav. E.Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Thomas W. Eagar.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122612

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/122612