The emergence of Additive Manufacturing (AM) is seen by many as a promising addition to the existing spectrum of manufacturing technology. Assessing a sample of 43 AM produced components, this paper investigates features of complex part geometry. It is found that the measured levels of geometric complexity approximate the normal distribution. Results indicate several factors promoting complexity: membership of the medical industry, organisational stability and the utilisation of powder bed or polymer vat AM technology. The current paper provides some empirical evidence that AM adoption may lead to advances in product performance for a wide range of applications.
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Baumers et al. (2011) studied this question.
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