Additive Manufacturing in India

Key Highlights:

• India is advancing in Additive Manufacturing (AM), a 3D printing technology, guided by the National Strategy for Additive Manufacturing (NSAM) launched in 2022.
• NSAM has trained over 1,54,000 individuals and supported 56 AM start-ups, with plans for an accelerated NSAM 2.0 phase.
• The strategy targets capturing 5% of the global AM market, adding US$1 billion to India’s GDP, and developing 50 India-specific AM technologies.
• Key objectives include nurturing 100 new AM start-ups, developing 500 new products, and training 1 lakh skilled workers.
• AM is being adopted across critical sectors like Space, Defence, Healthcare, Electronics, and Construction, aligning with Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat visions.

Detailed Insights:

• India is shifting from being a technology user to a builder, extending its digital infrastructure success to physical manufacturing through AM.
• AM is a digital engineering process that uses digital files for layer-by-layer material deposition, integrating computing, electronics, design, and materials science.
• The AM process involves virtual design (CAD), conversion to STL files, slicing into layers, and subsequent layer-by-layer printing and post-processing.
• Diverse materials like thermoplastics, metals, ceramics, and biomaterials are utilized, enabling applications from rocket engines to medical implants.
• Notable applications include Agnikul Cosmos's AM-printed rocket engine, the Indian Army's 3D-printed dwelling units, and indigenous medical devices like silk-based implants.
• The government fosters AM skills at the school level through Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs), which are equipped with 3D printers.
• NSAM 2.0 aims to accelerate Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) generation, expand the AM network, improve affordability, and deepen international cooperation.
• The National Additive Manufacturing Symposium (NAMS) serves as a crucial platform for stakeholders to advance India’s AM ecosystem.
• AM contributes to Industry 5.0 through digital production and advanced automation, supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via resource efficiency and localized production.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Additive Manufacturing (AM): A 3D printing technology that builds three-dimensional objects layer by layer from a digital design.
• National Strategy for Additive Manufacturing (NSAM): India's guiding policy framework, launched by MeitY in 2022, to develop a comprehensive national AM ecosystem.
• Computer-Aided Design (CAD): Software used to create, modify, analyze, or optimize a design, forming the initial digital blueprint for AM.
• STL (Standard Tessellation Language): A file format representing a 3D model as a collection of triangular surfaces, commonly used to instruct AM machines.