An Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of Additive Manufacturing and Injection Molding

As additive manufacturing has grown over the past several years it has displaced traditional methods. In the rapid prototyping field, 3D printer have grown to occupy the entire market. As this and other instances have shown, additive processes have successfully entered new markets and gained market majority. In this paper we explore the application of additive manufacturing and the feasibility of the disruption of traditional methods like injection molding. The feasibility is determined by an analysis of the cost to make parts as per batch basis. We then determined the break-even point and the relationship to the overall cost structure.