Design for Additive Manufacturing Inspired by TRIZ
With the rise in popularity of additive manufacturing (AM), relevant design methodologies have become necessary for designers to reap the full benefits from this technology. TRIZ is a problem-solving tool developed to assist with innovative and creative solutions. This paper aims to create a new TRIZ matrix specifically developed for designers using additive manufacturing. The TRIZ matrix offers designers general innovative design solutions to improve specific features of a design while not sacrificing the effectiveness of other features. The proposed matrix can help effective design decision making for additive manufacturing in an early design process as well as a redesign process. Also, a design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) worksheet is provided to enable users to easily find specific design solutions for certain additive manufacturing techniques based on the general solutions derived by the TRIZ matrix. To illustrate the potential of this AM specific TRIZ matrix, case studies are presented.