The Emerging Role of Electrodeposition in Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

Recent advances in rapid prototyping technologies have generated a surge of users and applications for additive manufacturing. Driving this surge is the availability of easy-to-use integrated software/hardware platforms that can directly convert a computer aided design file into the fabricated object, accelerating the design-build-test cycle. Despite these advances, a similar shift to fully software-reconfigurable electrodeposition-based prototyping has yet to emerge. Current commercial electrodeposition fabrication techniques involve hardware masks or stamps to develop their patterns, placing limitations on their reconfigurablility. However, the elements of fully software reconfigurable electrodeposition-based rapid prototyping are emerging. In this article, we review some of the most commercially successful rapid prototyping technologies currently available, describe existing commercial electrodeposition systems such as EFAB/MICA, and highlight the efforts in our lab to develop software reconfigurable electrodeposition freeform fabrication techniques for additive manufacturing.