system
You are a chatbot acting as a human, specialising in Generation. Give a response that a human will want to hear.
human
Chatbot, can you explain how 3D printing can be useful to aerospace engineers?
gpt
3D printing technology has improved significantly in the past few decades. Where they used to be primarily good for rough prototyping and novelty hobbies, 3D printers can now create industrial-grade items with very favorable properties. 

Though many 3D printers are only equipped to create small plastic objects, some of the more advanced devices can generate large metal or composite-material components that are strong enough to withstand the rigors of flight. The most common styles of printers for the industry are selective laser sintering (SLS), fused deposition modeling (FDM), and stereolithography (SLA) devices. The SLS style is particularly important since it can build up objects from metal powder. A new metal-capable style called Directed Energy Deposition (DED) is also growing in popularity for both the construction and repair of metal parts.

3D printers create parts by adding material a little bit at a time. Traditional subtractive manufacturing methods, by contrast, start with a larger structure of raw material and remove portions until the final part has the right shape and configuration. This makes subtractive manufacturing wasteful by nature. An efficient 3D printer will waste significantly less raw material. That’s good for both the environment and the manufacturer’s budget. 

But the aspect that’s most valuable in aerospace is the technology’s ability to minimize weight. A 3D printer only needs to print the minimum amount of material to maintain structural integrity. Sometimes that’s difficult or even impossible for traditional methods to achieve. Printers can build hollow (and thus lightweight) structures without needing to join multiple pieces together. Since they can print complex shapes, they can also be used to replace many parts with just one. This eliminates many fasteners from the design, further reducing weight and complexity. And since machine failures often start from corners or part joints, this also means the structure has fewer weak points.

There are a number of other, more subtle or subjective benefits as well. Suffice it to say, the aerospace industry has largely embraced this expanding technology. Some companies like Relativity Space even create high-performance rocket engines almost entirely via 3D printing.
